The Power of the Crests
by Amaya-CheshireNeko
Summary: From Kari's nightmare things began to happen. Only after feeling the consequences is that the Digidestined realize the seriousness of the situation. Now they need to act fast and understand their connection with their Crests before they're used against them. [HIATUS for an undetermined time!]
1. It all began with a nightmare

Hello! Here is Amaya-CheshireNeko! So here is my first fic! How it is my first time writing a _fic _I'm not exactly used to write about characters already existent, but I'll do my best! And I've read several fics, so I imagine I'll do it decently.

Now I wanted to warn you that this fic takes place during their summer vacation. The film about _"Revenge of Diaboromon" _DID NOT happen here! This fic happen at about the same time as it (I think it happens in the summer holidays, don't it?), so I gave these ages more or less to them: Joe - 16 years, Tai, Matt and Sora - 15 ; Mimi and Izzy - 14; Yolei - 13, Kari, TK, Ken and Davis - 12; Cody - 10

Anything you see that I wrote wrong let me know, please! Oh, and one more thing! I want to thank _Digital Savior_ the idea for this fic. Thanks a lot, you could help me finally put an idea on paper (or computer) and finally write something! Really thanks!

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoy my fic!

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><p>The first thing Kari realized when she started waking up was that her bed was different. First she began to feel cold, making her realize that her blanket was gone and a light breeze was blowing. Second, she felt that her bed that was very soft, now seemed to be somewhat rough and tough.<p>

The second thing she noticed was a small noise coming from somewhere close to her. Even with closed eyes Kari tried to decipher what that noise was and she quickly recognized it. _Ahh, these are waves!_ She thought happy with herself for having discovered what that mysterious sound was. She shifted a little in her "bed" and was ready to go back to sleep when something finally clicked in her head.

_Wait... waves?_ She quickly sat up, suddenly feeling wide awake, and looked around frantically. Her fears were soon confirmed when she recognized the outline grayscale. _The Dark Ocean..._She thought bitterly as she slowly rose up.

Panic began to grow slowly and she quickly moved away from the forest that stood on her right. "No... No. I remember going to sleep, I can't be here!" She said to herself as she watched the environment carefully. "I know! This must be a nightmare!" She exclaimed. "I'm just remembering when I was taken to the Dark Ocean!" She kept saying in an attempt to cheer herself up a bit and possibly wake up from this nightmare.

"Is it really a nightmare, Child of Light?" A voice asked with apparent amusement.

Kari immediately froze at the same time she felt the temperature drop a few degrees. That voice... She knew that voice. She has surely heard it somewhere before. But where? And when?

The voice laughed. "I see that you don't quite seem to remember me. Well, it doesn't matter now. Soon I'm going to get free from this prison and this time you won't be able to stop me." The voice then gave a grunt that seemed almost like an angry growl. "If it weren't for these Crests..."

_Crests? Is it talking about our Crests? But what do they have to do with that voice? And why is it talking about them? We gave them to the Digital World a long time ago!  
><em>

"Come on, Child of Light, this isn't that difficult to understand. You being so connected with your crest should realize it sooner," the voice said, its tone beginning to sound irritated. "Don't make this game so boring."

Everything was silent for some time making Kari think that maybe this mysterious being was gone but when she heard again that same laugh her hopes were shattered. "Pay attention to your path, Child of Light, because I'll make you lose every single one of those you consider precious. And beginning with Courage."

At these words Kari felt her blood freeze. The image of her brother smiling went through her head. _No... No... It can't be...!_ Did those words mean that something would happen to her brother? But then another image entered her mind. _Davis..._ Courage. If this voice was still talking while it thought about the Crests it probably was talking about Tai, although Davis was also connected to it as he had acquired the Digiegg of Courage... She felt a pang at the thought that something bad could happen to any of them.

The voice began to laugh even louder as if it knew what was going through her mind and was actually enjoying it. A picture of her brother and Davis laughing together was passing in Kari's head. Soon she began to feel dizzy and even when everything went black for her, she still could hear that laugh echoing in her head one more time before she lost consciousness completely.

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><p>"No!" Kari cried as she sat in her bed. She began to pant while she looked wide-eyed to her blanket.<p>

"Kari... Kari. Are you okay? What happened?" A familiar voice asked by her side.

Turning her still wide eyes, Kari found herself face to face with her brother who was watching her with great concern written on his face. Slowly her breath began to calm down and she finally began to notice the environment of where she was in.

Her bed... her blankets... the lamp from her room... the warmth of her cozy room... her partner, Gatomon, who was on her other side, also looking at her with concern... her brother...

Slowly she felt a warm hand close over hers and quickly begin to warm her cold fingers. Lowering her gaze to her hand Kari realized the other hand belonged to her brother and that he was trying to make her release the blankets from her bed (when had she begun to grasp the blanket so tightly?). Soon she realized that Gatomon was keeping a paw on her leg in a comforting gesture.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Tai sighed. "You haven't had one this bad since a long time ago. What happened?"

Her brother's words quickly reminded her of everything that happened in the Dark Ocean. A short phrase repeated itself in her mind: _'And beginning with Courage._' Kari started to feel that pang in her heart and looking at the face of her brother, well and near her, she couldn't stand it no longer. In a sudden movement she threw herself into Tai and began to embrace him strongly.

She heard him let out a surprised gasp before hugging her back. She squeezed him again. So the whole thing was just a nightmare. Nothing was real. Just a nightmare...

"U-umm... Kari... I'm glad you're glad to see me but, you know... I need my lungs to breathe and right now they're being crushed," Tai managed to utter even when receiving that bear hug.

"Sorry," Kari said with a small giggle as she let him go. She took a deep breath and exhaled shakily. Tai's expression, that had relaxed a little when he received his sister's hug, became worried again.

"Kari, you didn't answer me. That was a nightmare, right?"

She was silent for a moment. Now that she was calmer and could remember her dream she didn't know what to do. _'And beginning with Courage_.' Should she tell her brother everything that had happened in her nightmare? Maybe... after all, he – or Davis - had been threatened there... But that was just a bad dream! That way she would make her brother more concerned with her (because instead of worrying about himself his concern would certainly be directed to her)! And the worst was that she had a bad feeling that it wasn't just a mere dream.

"Kari?" Tai's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Come on, talk to me. You didn't say anything but 'sorry' since you woke up." She opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off. "And don't tell me it was nothing. I heard you rolling and grumbling when I went to get a glass of water. Gatomon and I have been trying to wake you up for a long time before you finally opened your eyes."

Kari turned to look at the watch she had on her bedside table and saw the time - 3:17 AM. She immediately felt guilty for keeping her brother up at that hour but she knew he would be upset if she apologized. Sighing she decided to tell half the truth.

"I dreamed about the Dark Ocean." Hearing this name made Gatomon immediately hiss, remembering their encounters with this place. "It was just some memories, nothing more. So don't worry." She finished saying dropping a small weak smile. Turning her eyes upward, she looked at Tai. He was looking to the side with his eyes darkened, clearly thinking - or remembering - something (probably of when Kari and Gatomon told him of their "visits" to the Dark Ocean). His serious look turned to Kari and when their eyes met Kari realized that he hadn't been deceived by her attempt at a smile, nor by what she said - and by the way she was looking at Kari, she could tell that neither Gatomon had been.

They were silent for a moment. Then Tai suddenly moved and hugged Kari, surprising her. Overcoming the surprise Kari hugged him back, still feeling a little shaky.

"Don't worry Kari. I won't let anything happen to you." Tai muttered while still hugging her. Kari was able to get the hidden message in that sentence easily. _I know you're hiding something, but I won't press you now. But don't worry, if something bad happens, I will surely protect you._ Kari nodded while taking advantage of the warmth of her brother (she was still feeling cold because of the Dark Ocean). She finally managed to totally relax. It was amazing how her brother could give her a sense of security even without knowing the whole situation. This was something that only he could do and it always comforted Kari (_well, there's one more person who can do this_. Kari thought and the image of a blond boy with blue eyes and a white hat crossed her mind before she quickly dropped this thought off. Now was not the time for that).

Tai looked at Kari and gave her a big smile. "Okay. Now try to cheer up a bit. Tomorrow we'll have a busy day in the Digital World."

Kari looked confused at her brother for a second until she remembered what he was talking about and managed to make a cheerful smile, making Gatomon finally relax a little more and making Tai's smile increase. That was true. She had forgotten that! They had arranged to meet with the other Digidestined in the Digital World that day! They planned to visit the Primary Village and enjoy the beginning of their summer vacation. This was a rare occasion to them because usually someone always had to do something, besides the fact that Mimi lived in the United States. So Kari couldn't help but smile. That afternoon would probably be pretty fun.

"Sure." She replied with a smile. Tai got up from her bed and looked at Kari carefully for a second before putting his hand over her head.

"Sleep well. We all need energy to tomorrow." And with that he smiled slightly too before sending a discreet look at Gatomon (something Kari didn't see) and then he finally left Kari's room closing the door behind him.

When he left her room Kari's smile slowly dropped until she was with a small grimace on her face.

"Kari, what really happened?" Gatomon's voice caught her by surprise, causing her to turn her gaze quickly to the feline digimon that was still on the bed beside her.

Quickly deciding that she had no problem in telling her partner about what _exactly_ had been her dream, she opened her mouth and the words came out more easily than Kari had thought they could. When she finished the two were silent for a moment, Kari remembering her dream and Gatomon silently thinking.

"Why didn't you tell Tai this?" Gatomon asked.

"You know how he is Gatomon." Kari sighed. "If I had told him he would start worrying about me because I was worrying too much about him! He wouldn't even think of himself, even if he is the one in danger."

"Do you really think that voice was serious? Because you all gave the power of your Crests to the Digital World a long time ago!" Gatomon remarked.

"I know... I'm also confused by this. But it still didn't quite seem like a dream to me. And that's what worries me." Kari said.

"And if he talked about 'Courage' then he may be referring to Davis as well." Gatomon reasoned.

"Yeah..." Kari mumbled, a worried expression on her face. "Gatomon... what if something happens tomorrow while we're in the Digital World?"

Gatomon was silent for a moment before answering with another question. "You think something will happen?"

"I don't know... I surely hope not, but it would be quite a big coincidence that I have this dream the night before we go to the Digital World, don't you think?"

"You're right..." Gatomon scowled. "Kari, we'd better tell it to someone else."

"Not to Tai," Kari answered quickly. "I still don't want to tell him anything. If we're more certain on this subject I'll speak with him, but without much evidence it will only make him concerned with me."

"What about TK and Patamon?" Gatomon asked and despite the seriousness of the situation she couldn't help but smirk.

Kari saw the wicked smile barely hided on her face and her face quickly gained a light color of pink. She tried to pretend nothing had happened and just nodded. "Okay. So we'll talk to them tomorrow."

"Then good night Kari." Gatomon said with another smirk before rolling back into the bed to sleep.

"Good night." She said before returning to lie down and cover herself with the blankets. With that Kari finally got back to sleep peacefully without knowing that the next day would be more hectic than she thought.


	2. Just a calm morning?

Hello everybody! So here is the second chapter of _The Power of the Crests!_ I really want to thank everyone who sent a review or put it in their favorites or alerts! Seriously! You made my day! _KoumiLoccness_, thank you for correcting me about Cody's age. I think I got the idea from there being three years between Tai and Matt's age and their siblings and I ended up putting him with 9 years. I went to the previous chapter and fixed it. Oh, and _Valechan92_, I'll try to add more takari moments ^.^ Initially I thought I wouldn't put too much between them, but while I was writing this chapter I realized how much I wanted to add more moments between them XD But I still won't probably do anything too big between them... at least for now... I think... XD I don't guarantee anything, after all, they are so cute together *-*

Well, here's the next chapter. I hope you all like it! And if I make any mistakes or make the characters too OOC, please let me know! Oh, and forgive me if you find lots of mistakes in this chapter. I really wanted to post it here quickly so I didn't have time to correct some errors that may have appeared. Maybe I should look for a beta reader… Well, I won't keep you anymore. Here is the chapter!

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><p><em>Today is really hot. <em>Kari thought as she watched the blue sky with a smile while sitting on the shade of a tree. Gatomon sat on the grass beside her, also taking advantage of the freshness that a shadow on a sunny day could provide.

The cry of young excited digimon interrupted her reverie and she turned her head toward the sound. She saw Ken laughing slightly in the direction where several _fresh _digimon were stacked on top of a figure that she almost didn't recognize. After a few seconds the figure began to sit, making some of the digimon fall off him and start jumping around him. When she recognized Davis with a slightly bewildered expression she almost couldn't hold back her laughter. It seems that he wasn't expecting that.

Soon Ken helped Davis get up and the two ran with the small digimon toward Veemon and Wormmon that were waiting with a small ball that they were using to play.

Kari smiled as she shook her head before her smile began to fade. Memories of last night came back to her head making she fix her gaze on Davis for a moment before turning to look at Tai. She found her brother with Matt and TK and saw that they were talking animatedly with Elecmon while their partners were playing with some digimon nearby.

She sighed heavily and looked toward the sky through the leaves of the tree she was leaning on. Now the sun was almost at its highest point on the sky, indicating that it was almost noon. Turning her gaze to the young digimon who were sleeping around her and Gatomon, she finally realized that she and others were playing with the fresh digimon from Primary Village for almost two hours now. _No wonder they are tired after so much time playing._ She then looked at the other digimon who were still playing with Davis, Ken, Veemon and Wormmon. _How they still have the energy to do so I don't know._ She turned her gaze to the only other group that was still standing and playing with the fresh digimon. Biyomon and Sora, Yolei and Hawkmon, Mimi and Palmon, Cody and Armadillomon and Joe and Gomamon had decided to play hide and seek and now it seemed that it was Joe's turn to be _it_. Izzy and Tentomon were with another group of baby digimon sleeping in the shade of a tree near where Kari was. He was ranging between typing something on his laptop (which of course he had brought) and see the others playing.

The sight of all her Digidestined friends with their partners and fresh digimon, all well and happy, made Kari calm down a bit. Although after Tai left her room and she had spoken with Gatomon she had felt better, now, while she was in the Digital World (which was the most likely place for something to happen), she was feeling nervous and anxious. Nevertheless, the Digital World somehow still managed to cheer her up a bit. When they had awakened, Tai had acted normally and didn't hesitate to show his enthusiasm to go to the Digital World and see his loyal partner that he hadn't seen for some time. Everything seemed normal (She and Tai had even arrived late at the place they agreed to meet! - though Davis still managed to get there later) and the only thing that indicated that something was unusual were her memories of the previous night and the state of anxiety in which she - and even Gatomon - was.

She looked back to where TK was. Now Matt and Tai had started a conversation between them and were laughing about something and near them TK, and now Patamon, continued to talk to Elecmon. They had decided to go to File Island because it was a special place for them, where their adventure had begun, and Primary Village was a great choice for them to spend the afternoon. So they played with the digimon, helped Elecmon and could spend the afternoon relaxing in one place.

"Kari," her partner's voice made her take her eyes from the blond boy and turn to the cat that was looking seriously at her. "When are you going to tell _that _to TK?" Although this could mean several things without a context, Kari knew that now she was talking about the nightmare she had last night.

She sighed. "I don't know Gatomon. So far I haven't had a good time to talk with him. Every time there was someone close to us and now he is talking with Elecmon."

"You know he won't mind if you call him. After all, this is something important." The feline digimon said.

"I know, but..." Her gaze turned to a blonde and a brunette talking close to where TK was.

"You don't want to talk about it near Tai," Gatomon realized.

"Yes..." She sighed.

"You can't hide it from him forever, Kari. If this is really serious as it seems we'll have to tell this to everyone soon." The cat digimon replied.

"I know that." Kari said with a pained look directed toward her brother, soon turning and looking at Davis with the same expression. This had been going on for some time now. Since they had divided to do different things Kari was trying to keep an eye on her brother and on Davis, which was a bit difficult because the two seemed to disappear sometimes to soon reappear again elsewhere. So she didn't want to lose them from her sight for even a minute. "But not yet. I want to hear TK's opinion of it first. If he thinks it's best for us to tell the others, then..." she paused and took a deep breath. "Then I'll tell him."

Gatomon nodded as she looked Kari put her hand above a Botamon absent minded. It really was affecting her a lot. "Don't worry Kari. Not necessarily something has to happen today. Try to relax a bit." Gatomon mumbled while putting one paw on Kari's leg.

Kari smiled weakly before she hugged her legs and put her head on top of her knees. Gatomon was right. She was very tense. But even if she wanted to calm down and relax she could only do so for a few minutes. After this she would remember everything and start to feel worried again. She closed her eyes for a moment and saw her nightmare replay in her head. Who was that voice? She was trying to remember it from her dream, but until now she had no clue who it could be. Well, telling you the truth, she didn't know if this dream was totally real and if it was, she didn't know when something would happen. And there was the fact that the Crests had been commented...

"Kari?" A voice suddenly asked making Kari open her eyes. Sitting in front of her was...

"TK!" she exclaimed surprised as her eyes widened. TK just laughed at her reaction while Gatomon and Patamon, who was now lying on the grass beside her, smiled when they saw how shocked she was.

"Sorry, I didn't want to scare you." TK told her with a smile.

"It's alright. I was just distracted and didn't hear you coming." Kari nodded with a small smile forming on her face. Only the presence of her best friend had managed to distract her and cheer her up for a moment. "When did you get here? The last time I saw you, you was with Elecmon."

"I just got here." He answered her before his smile faded. "I saw you here with a sad expression and came see what had happened."

Kari's eyes widened slightly and she immediately turned her face away from him. Now there was no turning back. She had to tell him now...

"Kari, are you okay?" Kari turned back to TK and saw his worried expression. "Something happened, didn't it? You know you can tell me whatever you want." He said lightly.

Kari took a deep breath. Around her Gatomon and Patamon had gotten silent while the little digimon were still asleep.

"Yes, something happened. Better yet, something will still happen." Kari looked TK and saw confusion on his face. She got silent again. How should she tell him that? And how would he react?

"It has something to do with why you are staring in the direction of Tai and Davis all the time?" This made Kari automatically turn her gaze from him to start looking for both of them, making her don't see the confused, curious and somewhat... hurt look in TK's eyes.

If something was bothering her then why didn't she go look for him earlier? Wasn't he her best friend? That meant she could tell him everything and that he would hear. Since they had gathered in the Digital World until now, TK noticed that Kari was looking from Tai to Davis the entire time. He did understand her looking at her brother from time to time, but why _Davis _too? Not that he had something against the guy (besides the fact he's always changing his nickname purposely), but it still bothered him. And a lot.

When he had seen the sad look her face a few minutes ago he decided to finally go and ask her what was wrong. And apparently he was right. Now the question was: what was it that was bothering her so much?

"I..." Kari started to say before pausing and furrowing her brow slightly. "Yesterday I had a nightmare with the Dark Ocean." TK immediately stiffened and Patamon's eyes widened.

Kari turned to look at TK and when she saw him nod she continued. "Usually I only remember the times I went there, or else I end up dreaming about what might have happened if you hadn't appeared to help me that time." She muttered looking at TK, knowing he was probably remembering when she had told him about these dreams. "But this time something different happened."

Kari then proceeded to tell in detail what had happened in her nightmare. She talked about everything from when she "awoke" in the Dark Ocean to when she woke up back in her room. TK was listening very carefully and the more she told him the more anxious he got. Patamon's eyes were slowly widening, while Gatomon looked thoughtfully at the grass, probably remembering the previous night.

When she finished her tale they sat in silence for some seconds before TK finally muttered: "So that's why you were always looking at them." And then he turned to look at Tai, who along with Matt had now sat with Izzy, and Davis, who was now sitting down with Ken, their partners and several fresh digimon around them. His eyes showed clear concern. He obviously didn't want anything to happen to them.

"You didn't tell that to Tai, did you?" Kari nodded, knowing that this was more of a statement than a question. "You should tell him."

"I can't TK." Kari said looking sadly at TK. "If I do this he'll be more concerned with me than with him! And besides, we're not sure that this was real. I could have just dreamed of something different this time..."

"He'll worry even more if you don't tell him." TK corrected her. "By now Tai has probably already realized that you are acting strangely and I'm sure this is worrying him, especially if he was with you when you woke up. And Kari, we both know that there's something different about this dream. We can't prove that it's true, but we can't say it was nothing."

Kari looked at the grass still in doubt in what to do. Then suddenly she felt her hand be squeezed gently by another hand that was above her's. She turned surprised to see TK looking kindly and worriedly at her.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay. At the end we'll get to find out what the nightmare means and if it's real we'll prevent it from actually happening!" He finished his sentence with a small smile. Hearing these words and seeing his smile made Kari feel more hopeful. _Yes, everything will be okay in the end._

"Hey, you two! What are you doing?" Said a voice close to them causing them to almost jump (and making TK quickly release Kari's hand). They turned toward the voice and saw Sora smirking as she walked toward them. She soon came close to them and said with a hand on her hip: "We were trying to call you for some time now but you didn't even turn. The conversation is so interesting for you to not hear us?"

TK felt himself get a little red at the same time that Kari just stared blankly at Sora when seeing the almost evil grin with which she had said that. Sora shook her head and said still with her smile: "So you didn't really hear us calling you?" When she saw them nodding she continued. "We're trying to put everyone else together so we can play one last game of tag with the fresh digimon before we have to put them to sleep with Elecmon's help."

The two, along with Gatomon and Patamon, who had remained quiet so far, looked in the direction she had pointed while she was talking and saw that her group was there with their partners and a large group of Baby Digimon. Tai, Matt and Izzy were still sitting near a tree and Ken and Davis...

Kari's eyes widened. "Where are Davis and Ken?" When she said this, all but Sora, became alarmed.

"Hmm... Good question." Sora said looking around. "I didn't see them since we got back from our game..."

Kari and TK looked at each other and stood up with their partners at the same time, scaring a poor Sora that looked at them confusedly, and ran to where Tai and the others were. When they got close to them they stopped talking and looked at them curiously.

"Did you see where Davis and Ken went? The digimon that they were playing with are still here." TK asked almost frantically while looking around.

"Davis and Ken?" Matt asked looking around to see that the two really weren't anywhere in sight.

"I think they were planning to go to the river near here." Izzy said looking toward where the river was. "But why do you want-"

"Thank you Izzy!" TK and Kari exclaimed at the same time and ran toward the river, surprising Izzy, Sora and the two brothers.

"Kari!" "TK?"

"Hey! Patamon! Gatomon! Where are you going?" Agumon said.

"We're going after them!" Gatomon said back without ever turning back. And then the four soon entered the forest around the Primary Village.

_I shouldn't have taken my eyes of them. I shouldn't have gotten distracted! What if something happened?_ Kari wasn't able to avoid blaming herself for that. Even if she was talking with TK she could very well have continued to watch them! Even though it was only for an instant…

"Kari, this isn't your fault." TK's voice at her side took her from her thoughts. They now had stopped running and were only walking while looking for the river. She looked at him and saw he was looking forward with a serious expression. "It was me who started talking to you and distract you when I should have helped you to observe them."

Kari put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault too. I wanted to tell you this since last night but I couldn't find a right opportunity to tell you."

"It's not anyone's fault." Gatomon said suddenly. "We all got distracted, but it happens. The important thing now is to find two of them."

"Right." They nodded before TK sighed. "If Tai wasn't suspecting something was wrong before now he certainly is. And now my brother, Izzy and Sora are probably too. "

"Maybe I really have to tell them about my nightmare now." Kari mumbled and this was the last thing said between them before they got to the river.

When they arrived there they had no problems to find them. They were near the part of the river right in front of the place they had arrived. Ken was kneeling on the ground next to a figure along with Veemon and Wormmon and Ken seemed to be saying something. They turned to look at the figure and Kari immediately froze.

_No... It can't be...Then the voice was really talking about_... "Davis?"

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><p>And here is the second chapter! So Davis was the person from whom the voice was talking about! Well... was he really? Or was it Tai...? XD This you will only know if you continue to read! ;) I hope you enjoyed it! Any errors please let me know! So until the next chapter! :D<p> 


	3. A tale of tripping and falling in rivers

Hi guys! Here is the third chapter! It was a little hard to write, but now it is finally here! Yay! :D

Now, I wanted to really, really thank _KoumiLoccness_, _Valechan92_, _GirlfromTheRockShow182_, _Digital Savior_, and _Data-Angemon_ for reviewing my story! You made me really happy and I'm glad that you are enjoying my fic! Thanks also to _Fox of Magic_, my newest and wonderful beta reader! :D Many thanks Faith-chan!

The last thing I'll say now is that I wanted to ask a favor. I've decided to add a little more romance and a few couples in this story, but I'm in doubt between two things. Should I put Taiora or Sorato? And should I put (or at least try to put) Kenyako too? I don't know if I would do a good job writing any of these three pairs, but I can always try right? Now, if you can tell me what you prefer in a review I'd be very grateful. If you don't tell me anything in the end I'll end up having to choose, but now I really wanted to hear your opnion. I also have some couples I'm sure I'm going to use (Takari of course and another couple that I give a hint in this chapter ;D), but if in the end I don't use your favorite couple, please don't stop reading this story!

Now I'll let you read in peace! Thank you for everything so far and enjoy your reading ;)

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><p><strong><em>In the previous chapter...<em>**

_When they arrived there they had no problems to find them. They were near the part of the river right in front of the place they had arrived. Ken was kneeling on the ground next to a figure along with Veemon and Wormmon and Ken seemed to be saying something. They turned to look at the figure and Kari immediately froze._

_No... It can't be...Then the voice was really talking about... "Davis?"_

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><p>That made Ken, Davis and their partners notice that someone had just arrived at the scene. The boy who had his name called gave them a shy smile when he saw their expressions and was the first to break the silence.<p>

"O-oh, hi Kari! TK!" His smile was somewhat embarrassed. "So... What are you doing here?"

Kari and TK just blinked their eyes surprised while Patamon watched the scene curiously and Gatomon looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"We came looking for you," TK said, being the first able to find his voice back. "Yep! You suddenly disappeared and as Sora said they were planning to play one more game we've come looking for you!" Patamon said from his place above TK's head, where he had just landed.

"Oh... right..." Davis said somewhat vaguely before hearing a small laugh at his side start to get louder. "Veemon! Be quiet! That wasn't so funny!"

His sudden exclamation managed to surprise TK and Kari who were still trying to understand what was happening. When they had arrived on the scene they had seen Ken talking to Davis with their partners by their side. Till then everything was all right, but when they saw Davis's appearance they froze. The boy with goggles sat on the edge of the river, one leg bent out of the river while the other was completely immersed in it. His clothes and his hair were completely soaked and were still dripping. His goggles, instead of being in its usual spot, now hung around his neck. He had a cut on his cheek that had a thin line of blood dripping from it. And even if he had a smile on his face it was obvious that his left ankle (which was the one out of the river) was hurt by how he was holding it firmly.

Now, anyone would think this could make his friends worry, but a laughing Veemon and Ken and Wormmon with small smiles on their faces contradicted any seriousness of the situation.

"Would anyone care to explain to us what exactly happened here?" Gatomon finally spoke, expressing what the other three also wanted to know.

"The fresh digimon we were playing with started getting tired so we took them to a shadow and let them sleep a little there," Ken began to say to soon be interrupted by Veemon.

"Yeah, and then Davis said the weather was too hot and how he wanted to go into a pool!" His voice still sounded as if he wanted to laugh which made Davis get even more annoyed with and try to punch him. Veemon got away easily and as Davis was sitting and didn't seem to want to get up to chase him, the digimon decided to continue his tale. "Then Ken said he heard that there was a river near us and Wormmon said he had heard that it had a lot of big fishes!" He waved his hand excitedly to show how big the fish should be. "So we decided to come!"

"We decided to leave the Digimon resting there because we thought we would be back soon," Ken continued, now with a small smile on his face as he remembered the scene. "But when we arrived here Davis decided he wanted to try to catch one of those fishes with his hands and when he and Veemon were getting near the river-"

"I tripped!" Davis exclaimed irritably throwing his hands up in a sign of withdrawal. "I tripped okay? Now can you stop laughing Veemon? I wanted to see if you'd laugh if it was you!" His red face was (you couldn't tell if it was of embarrassment or irritation) facing Veemon, who was innocently looking at him... from a good distance.

"But you_ would_ have laughed if it was me instead of you!" Veemon replied indignantly.

"Well, yes, but still!" Davis said.

"Actually it was really funny." Wormmon said as he shook his head. Ken nodded. "You should have seen your face when you tripped over that stone Davis."

"Wait." Kari said suddenly making the four who were talking stop and look at her. "So you just tripped and fell into the river? That?"

"Yeah..." Davis said after a pause. "What were you expecting?"

Gatomon rolled her eyes. "Knowing you I was expecting something more dramatic." That made Veemon start to laugh again but Davis was faster this time and, taking advantage of the fact that he had gotten close to him again, he grabbed him by his shoulders and began shaking him while he yelled things like "how could you, you traitor!" and "laughing at your own partner...". Ken and Wormmon just looked at them with smiles.

Kari let out a shaky breath as she watched the scene happening in front of her. So he had just tripped? Only that? She looked around for something, but when she found nothing she looked back at her friends; Ken was trying to get Davis to release Veemon who was now starting to get very dizzy. Then she finally managed to smile since they had noticed that Davis and Ken were gone. Her smile grew a little more and she gave a little laugh, finally feeling some of the tension she was feeling before disappearing. Somehow all that trouble seemed a little silly now. They knew how to take care of themselves! They weren't little children! And she didn't have to be the one looking at them all the time, Ken was almost always with Davis and his brother was also always accompanied by someone. If something happened they sure would have help... Although it wouldn't hurt anyone if she continued watching them quietly, that way she could relax more.

TK noted Kari relaxing by corner of his eye and managed to smile weakly. Unlike her, he couldn't relax completely. He knew that everything his friends had said was true, but he also knew he had felt a strange presence near that area when they had arrived. He also knew that Kari had noticed the same thing (she had even looked around), but he could tell she had thought she had imagined it when she found nothing there. And she could be right. They could only have imagined that, after all, both of them were fully expecting that something bad had happened (not that Davis falling into the river wasn't bad, but something worse). But what made him don't relax completely was the look particularly cautious in Ken's face before he saw that they were there. After that he had thrown him a look that said he knew that they knew something and he wanted to know what it was. Nevertheless, he almost hadn't noticed it because Ken was very discreet and it was when he was still very surprised to understand anything. Turning now to Ken (he had just managed to make Davis release Veemon) and seeing a smile on his face made him wonder if he really hadn't imagined it. As he had already thought, they were _really_ expecting something bad to happen.

TK sighed. _Well, it seems I'll have to ask him about it later._"Guys, I think we better get back soon. I bet others are wondering why we are taking so long."

"We better go then," Ken said before turning back to Davis. "You want help to walk?" He motioned toward his left foot.

"Of course not! I can walk by myself!" Was his reply. He took off his other foot out of the river and began to try to get up, only to stop in the middle of the movement and with a grimace, sat down again. "Okay. I think I need help."

Ken shook his head and then moved to Davis' side to help him up. Ken put Davis' arm over his shoulders and TK did the same on the other side and then with their help Davis managed to get up. Then they all started to walk back toward Primary Village.

The walk back there seemed faster to Kari and TK (even if in fact it was longer, because now they were walking slowly) since that time they weren't concerned about the welfare of their friends. Along the way the digimon didn't stop talking, always thinking about something different and starting a new conversation. The conversation at one point even came back to Davis' "small incident" that made him want to start running after Veemon only to trip and nearly fall down pushing TK and Ken with him.

When they left the trees and returned to step on the field where the Primary Village was they were greeted by a redheaded girl running toward them with an expression somewhat irritated.

"Finally! We were already planning on going after you," Sora started saying looking directly to TK and Kari who seemed a bit embarrassed. "And why did you start runn-" She stopped when she finally saw that the two were now with Ken and Davis. But what caught her attention was the state in which Davis was. "What happened to you?" She said looking directly at the younger goggle head with concern.

"Ah... Well..."Davis was obviously feeling embarrassed now. How had he managed to trip and fall into the river anyway? He really had been distracted and now he had to endure the consequences.

"He tripped and fell into the river." Ken answered for him.

"He tripped and... what?" Sora blinked a few times surprised. Did she hear it right?

"Fell into the river!" Veemon added with a smile.

"Veemon..." The threatening tone in Davis' voice was easily noticed by Veemon, who looked at him apprehensively. "I said nothing wrong this time!" The little blue digimon said in his defense.

Sora sighed and shook her head. "I'll call Joe. He always brings a first aid kit when he comes to the Digital World." And with that she left them to go in search of their blue-haired friend.

The four together with their partners went then toward the tree where Ken and Davis left the fresh digimon sleeping. There they released Davis and he sat on the ground while the others were standing around him waiting for Joe to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long. Joe soon appeared followed by all the other Digidestined, making Davis want to slap his face. Of course all the others would come; he should have been expecting it! He sighed resignedly; now he certainly couldn't keep this accident hided.

Joe knelt before him and looked at him intently. He opened his mouth to say something, but Yolei was faster than him.

"What happened to you Davis?"

He crossed his arms and looked away, avoiding looking look any of the Digidestined, and muttered something.

"What? Speak louder, Davis!" She exclaimed.

Davis repeated his sentence in the same tone.

"Louder Davis," she repeated dryly.

He did the same thing. Yolei's face began to get angry and she was ready to complain when Ken said in Davis' place.

"He tripped over a stone and fell into the river."

There was a general silence. TK almost didn't manage to not roll his eyes; he knew what would happen now.

"Trippe-... riv-... Huh?" That's what came out of her mouth. When Ken repeated the same thing she was finally able to process that information. A smirk formed on her face. "Ohhhh, so you've tripped on a rock, right?"

"Oh, shut up! I've been mocked enough; I don't need you doing it too!" Davis replied angrily. Why did everyone have that same reaction when they heard what had happened to him?

"Be quiet for a moment Davis," Joe muttered as he tried to put a bandage on Davis' cut after having it cleaned. "Finished. Do you have any more injuries?"

"Well, I think I may have twisted my ankle," he said pointing to his left ankle. After Joe nodded and moved to tinker with his shoe, Davis looked at the other Digidestined who were still there. "So... err... you all don't need to stand there watching me right?" All those glances directed at him didn't usually bother him, but the fact that some looks (*cough*Yolei*cough*) had amusement written in them was what was really bothering him. "I'm fine, so you can... err... go back to doing what you were doing before." They just looked at him suspiciously.

To his luck, Joe said. "He's right. If these were his only injuries so he's really fine. This isn't even a twist; he only received a severe blow."

Sora smiled. "I'm glad it was nothing serious. So we'll start to gather the fresh digimon who will play with us."

Davis blinked. "Oh yeah. TC and Kari said you wanted to play a game with everyone."

"Although now it won't be with everyone anymore." Mimi said with a small grimace.

"Oh, no, no. I don't mind! This way I'll have more time to dry!" Davis pointed to his clothes and his hair that were still wet.

"Well then, let's go!" Sora cried before holding with one hand one of Matt's arms and with the other one of Tai's arms and started pulling them along with her in the direction that Elecmon was. "Come on you two. Let's ask Elecmon to help us to gather the fresh digimon."

The two were clearly taken by surprise, obviously being distracted, and when Sora started to run and almost made them trip and fall on the grass was that they finally began to act, or rather, complain. "C-calm down, Sora! We're already going with you! ""You can release us! We're going!"

Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon looked surprised at the scene for a moment before rushing off running after them shouting "Hey! Wait for us." Yolei and Cody looked at each other and left soon after that with their partners, saying they would help them.

This left there Davis, Joe, who was wrapping Davis' ankle with bandages, Ken, Kari and TK, which were those who were with Davis at the beginning, and Mimi and Izzy, who seemed to really want to ask something to TK and Kari. Mimi looked curiously at the scene and saw that by Kari's and TK's expressions they wouldn't answer any questions now. She then did the first thing she thought.

"Let's go, Izzy?" Her question could draw the attention of the red-haired boy who looked confused at her for a moment. "Let's leave your laptop in your backpack and let's help the others!" She clarified before holding his hand that wasn't holding the laptop and started running toward where they had left their backpacks. The others just looked at them with smiles watching Izzy turn an interesting shade of red, one that easily competed with the color of his hair, as soon as Mimi started holding his hand and began to pull him away (his question completely forgotten by then). Palmon and Tentomon looked at each other with smiles and Palmon giggled, before they went after their partners.

When they were already a good distance from them, Kari and TK released sighs of relief (that made them receive a confused look from Ken, but they didn't realize). They both looked at each other and looked at their partners, who nodded.

"So we're also going," Kari said with a smile.

"Huh?" Davis looked at her a little confused before his eyes widened slightly. "No! You don't need to go! At that time I wasn't talking about you, Kari!"

"See you later," TK said and the two turned around and went towards the tree that Kari was sitting with Gatomon earlier, ignoring the whine from Davis and Joe saying to him to stop moving. In another moment Kari could even say something to try to comfort Davis (or she wouldn't even leave!), but now she needed to talk alone with TK.

When they had enough distance between them Kari finally let out a relieved sigh and a smile appeared on her face. "It was nothing then. Nothing too bad happened." And TK already knew what she was talking about.

"It's just like Davis to fall into a river," Patamon said lightheartedly.

"Yeah..." TK nodded vaguely.

"TK? Are you okay?" Kari asked worriedly. TK looked at her confused before muttering an "oh" and finally smiling.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking that in the end we were very paranoid. It was just a simple accident and we were frantic with worry."

"Yeah, you're right. I know that when they acted as if nothing strange had happened they caught me by surprise." Kari smiled.

"Although I still don't know how Davis could trip on a stone and actually fall into the river. Well, I think he really _is_ that clumsy sometimes," Gatomon joked.

With this they all laughed. TK looked Kari intently while she spoke something to Gatomon and the feline digimon replied in a playful tone. _It seems that she finally relaxed. _He thought. Looking at the surroundings almost discreetly he thought bitterly. _Yeah... but I didn't. I'm still very paranoid._

Looking at Kari again he wondered if he should tell her his suspicions that Ken had noticed something strange. He saw her smile easily and laugh at something that Patamon had said and quickly gave up that idea. Thinking that she would return and stay in the sad state from before agonized him. Putting a smile on his face he entered their conversation as if he had never been distracted. Sometime he would have to tell her this, but this didn't need necessarily to be now, right?

_I hope nothing bad happens, but let's see what happens. For now the only thing I can do is hope that nothing really bad happens._


	4. An SOS message

Hi! Here I am again with another chapter! Well, this time I don't have much to say about it, only that I know it is kind of... quiet and calm in the beginning (you'll understand when you read it), but I wanted to show something calm before things begin to happen as you can already see in this chapter too. I usually make things go too fast, so I am struggling to stopand make things flow better.

A big thanks to _KoumiLoccness_ and _Yozo_. Thanks for the review guys! A big thanks also to my beta reader, _Fox of Magic_!

Oh and about the questions I asked last chapter, I'm extending them till next chapter. For now I have one _yes_ to _Kenyako,_ _one_ vote for _Taiora_ and _two_ for _Sorato_. Thanks to everyone who told me their opinions! And who else is reading this, send your opinion too, being in a review, an anonymous review or PM.

Well, that's it. Enjoy this chapter! And don't forget to send a review telling me what you thought about it! ;)

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><p>It was a quiet afternoon at Kamiya's house. The only noise that could be heard coming from there was the sound of television in the living room. A brunette boy was lying on the sofa while he was watching TV with a tired face. Tai yawned before rubbing his eyes and finally sneezing. After muttering how annoying it was getting a cold in the summer, he got up and went to get something in the kitchen for him to eat. Since he was sick and couldn't get out of the house he could take the opportunity to wake up late, couldn't him? So for Tai Kamiya there was no problem in waking up after 1 o' clock PM in a Friday.<p>

When he had sat down again on the couch with an apple in his hand he heard a gasp followed by some loud laughter coming from his sister's room. He blinked surprised for a moment before shaking his head with a smile. "It seems that they are having fun..."

Going now to the room where the noise had come from, we can see a girl with lavender hair looking at a brunette girls that was sitting on her bed.

"Kaaarii! Hurry up! This way we won't be able to buy the tickets! And just with this movie that I want to see so much..." The girl with glasses complained.

The brunette girl, that was now putting her shoes, giggled. "Calm Yolei, I'm ready. Just let me put my shoes." Kari got up from her bed and smiled. "OK, we can go now."

"Yes!" Yolei exclaimed excitedly with a big smile.

"And you two? Are you coming with us?" This question was directed to a white cat and a pink ball with a feather in its head that were lying on Kari's bed.

"I think I'll pass. I'll have to stay in this bag all day and only at the time of the film I would get out of there. So no, I pass." Gatomon said warily while looking at the pink backpack that was on the floor beside the bed.

"Yes, I think I'll wait here too." Poromon muttered looking at the bag on Yolei's shoulder that he knew was completely full (he had to stay there during the path to the house of the Kamiya's).

"Okay then." Yolei shrugged. "It is you who will miss the movie."

"You can say that because you never had to be squeezed into a backpack for several hours..." Gatomon said almost bitterly.

"Okay. But we'll only return after the movie ends and it will only start later. So don't expect us coming back soon," Kari told them and when the two digimon nodded she smiled. "So we're going. Try not to make a big mess here." And with that Kari took the contents of her bag and put everything she would need in a smaller purse. The two said goodbye to their partner and finally left her room.

When they arrived in the living room Kari saw her brother sneezing and coughing. She grimaced. "You really got the flu Tai."

"Yeah..." he replied annoyed." And in the summer! When I could be out there doing something funny!"

"Think of it like this: You will only get stuck here for one day! Then if you feel better you will get out tomorrow! And so you avoid getting worse too." Yolei reasoned.

"Yeah, you're right," he said before coughing again.

"Tai, seriously, take care." Kari asked.

"All right, all right." He waved vaguely. Then he finally noticed that Kari and Yolei were dressed to go out and with bags. "What are you two doing?"

"We'll buy tickets to see a movie that premiered recently. We are going early to buy them so all of us will be able to watch it." His sister said.

"All of us?" He raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"TK, Davis and Ken are also going with us." Kari answered.

"And Cody?"

"It seems he had an appointment with his mother today." Kari said before rolling her eyes. "Did you hear anything I told you yesterday? I talked about all of this."

Tai smiled sheepishly. "Oh, ha-ha, well, I wasn't feeling very well yesterday so I wasn't really paying attention to anything that happened last night."

Kari nodded, clearly remembering the night. "We better get going then." She stared at Tai. "And take care of yourself properly."

"Okay _mom,_" He said teasingly. "Enjoy the movie!"

"Thanks!" The two girls exclaimed before Kari told him that they had left Gatomon and Poromon in her room and that he should take care of them too. Then they finally left Kari's home.

"What bad luck Tai has, getting the flu in the summer!" Yolei said as they began heading toward the mall.

"I know. And you don't know how much he is complaining about that." Kari nodded. "He's like this since yesterday afternoon when he returned from the soccer game. He is still blaming Izzy, saying he got the flu from him."

"Izzy's also sick?" Yolei asked surprised.

"No, no. I think he was just allergic at that time. But Tai is too stubborn to think about it in this state of bad humor." Kari said.

Yolei suddenly stopped walking. Kari looked confusedly at her friend. "Yolei...?"

"Oh my Gosh!" She exclaimed. "I had completely forgotten!" She then began to rummage through her bag, looking for something.

"Huh?" Was Kari's confused answer.

"Found it!" She said before taking a book from her backpack. She then looked sorrowfully at the book. "I forgot that I had promised Izzy that I was going to return his book to him today." She sighed. "But I wanted so badly to see this movie... Do we have time to go to his house and then go buy the tickets?"

Kari muttered an "oh" finally understanding what Yolei was talking about. "Why don't we do the opposite? If we buy the tickets first and then go to his house I'm sure we'll be able to buy them! Besides, Izzy's house is near there." Kari suggested with a smile.

Yolei's eyes twinkled. "Good idea Kari! I hadn't thought about that!" She put the book back into her backpack and after she thanked Kari several times for the idea and for reminding her she had to return the book, she began to talk excitedly about the movie they would see, clearly anxious to watch it.

Kari just shook her head as she heard her friend talk. It didn't seem that only two days ago she had been so anxious and worried about her brother and Davis' welfare. But after the "incident" with Davis she had finally managed to relax. Nothing had happened since then and now it had been nearly three days since she had had the dream. If something were to happen it would already have happened, right? This thought was what managed to calm Kari, though even then she still felt alert and knew that any small sign that something was wrong would make her return to her previous state.

After that day, TK and Kari decided to keep an eye on the two goggle heads as a precaution. But as it was impossible for Tai to go to the Digital World by himself (the older chosen ones' digivices still couldn't open any portal in computers), the person that they had to be more cautious with was Davis. And they knew that he probably wouldn't go to the Digital World without someone knowing, unless there was good reason. And as far as they know, there's nothing different happening there these days... for the time being at least.

_And besides_, Kari thought as she realized they were finally getting closer to the mall, _we met him in these two days between the visit to the Digital World and today. And even if we don't see him every day he surely will be always accompanied by someone. And I also don't think an attack will happen here in the Real World. Usually, before that happens there has to be a major destabilization in the Digital World..._

All these thoughts reminded her of something. While they were all playing with the fresh digimon in Primary Village, right before they stopped to go lunch, she saw TK talking with Ken about something. She was away from him at the time so it was impossible for her to hear what they were talking about, but she knew it was something serious. TK probably hadn't suspected but she saw that he was acting strange since they had returned from the river and Sora had seen them. _Did he think about something? Or maybe he knows something I don't..._

Kari almost huffed frustrated. She hated the fact that he was hiding something from her. But she would certainly find out what it was. She knew he should have some reason to not have told her that (whatever _that_ is), but this didn't prevented her from getting frustrated at being kept in the dark.

"Hello! Earth to Kari! Are you there?" A voice, accompanied by a hand waving in front of her face, asked.

Kari looked surprised at the hand for a few seconds before turning and looking to see Yolei looking at her, clearly upset.

"Did you hear anything I said Kari?" She asked irritated.

"Sorry, Yolei," Kari mumbled to her friend. "I ended up distracted with my thoughts. What were you talking about?"

Yolei looked at the brunette critically and ignoring her question she said: "Kari, are you okay? You seem a little spacy these days. And now you just stopped walking suddenly!"

Kari looked surprised before turning around and seeing that they were standing in front of a window, inside the mall. _When did we get here...?_

"I'm fine, really," she replied with a smile. "I just got distracted with some thoughts, but don't worry, they're nothing you have to worry about." _At least now..._

Yolei looked at her intently for a minute before shrugging. "If you say so..." She smiled broadly. "But then let's go! We're almost there!" And Kari knew immediately that she was referring to the place where they'd buy the tickets.

Kari giggled and they began to walk again and this time Kari participated in the conversation. _I can leave these thoughts for later. Even though he hasn't told me anything these days I'm sure he'll tell me if it's something important._

And with that the two continued to talk cheerfully. Well, at least until they heard insistent beeps come from inside their bags. The conversation immediately stopped. The two girls looked at each other and immediately began to seek the source of the noise. They soon found what they were looking for in their bags and took out their D-3 and D-Terminal. Both devices were making noises (and clearly attracting the attention of some people who were passing by them) and when opening the D-Terminal the reason was clear. They had received an SOS message from the Digital World. Only this time it wasn't from one of the older Digidestined partner. This time it was a message from an entire town in the Digital World.

The two exchanged anxious glances before they started running at the same time toward the exit.

"We need to find a computer!" Kari said.

"Izzy's house!" Yolei responded in a rushed tone. "It's the safest and closer place for us to go to the Digital World!"

The two continued to run ignoring the confused looks that people around them gave them. When they finally managed to leave the mall and Kari felt the difference in brightness and the warmth of the streets, she bumped into someone and fell to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She and the person cried at the same time. When Kari looked up to see who she had bumped into, she blinked surprised. "D-Davis?"

The younger leader looked surprised for a moment before he cracked a smile. "Kari!" His face the turned embarrassed. "A-ah, I'm sorry for making you fall Kari." And he offered a hand to help her up.

She took his hand and he lifted her. It was then that she noticed the person who was with Davis. "Ken? You're also here?"

Yolei, having heard the Kari's cry, had turned to see what was happening and to her surprise she found two of her friends.

"What are you doing here? Weren't we going to meet in front of the cinema only later?" She asked.

"We were just returning from a soccer game and going to my home. Ken will stay there until the time of the film." Davis answered. "And you? What were you doing running away from the mall?"

This made the two girls remember the reason they were running and immediately their eyes widened. Yolei turned to them.

"Didn't you receive the message on your D-Terminal?"

"What message?" The two asked at the same time, confused.

"An SOS one," was all that Kari had to say before they became alarmed and took their backpacks off their shoulders and started to rummage through them.

"Ah, fresh air!" A voice said from within Davis' backpack. Soon DemiVeemon's head came out and looked at them. "Oh, hi!"

"DemiVeemon," Davis said. "Why didn't you tell me that I had received a message on my D-Terminal?"

"You received one?" The little digimon asked confused. "I heard nothing. Although I was sleeping a while ago..."

"How didn't you hear it?" Davis began to say. "That thing should have beeped loudly enough to wake you up! Are you sure that you didn't-" He kept talking to suddenly be interrupted by Ken.

"Davis." The goggle head boy turned to him. "Do you perhaps have my D-Terminal with you? It disappeared from my backpack." Looking at him you could see his bag open with Minomon's small head in there. In his hand was his black 3-D.

Davis looked at DemiVeemon who 'immersed' into his bag and when he returned he appeared with a blue 3-D and two D-Terminals beeping lightly.

"I swear I heard nothing! And they are almost making no noise!" The blue digimon said in his defense.

Before Davis could answer Yolei said. "That's not important. We have to go _now_!" And when the girl was ready to run again Kari stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Kari?"

"Gatomon and Poromon are still in my house," the girl muttered while she stared at DemiVeemon and Minomon. Yolei's eyes widened.

"Is your brother at home?" Ken asked. When Kari nodded he continued. "Send a message to him and ask him to tell them to meet us."

"By the way, where were you planning to go?" Davis asked.

"To Izzy's house. It's the closest place to us now." The brunette said before the four started running again. She opened her D-Terminal and began to send a message to Tai.

_TO: Tai_

_Tai, can you tell Gatomon and Poromon to meet us at Izzy's home? Thanks!_

_FROM: Kari_

She didn't have to wait long; soon she received the response.

_TO: Kari_

_I've talked with them. They are on their way. What happened?_

_FROM: Tai_

"They're coming." Kari said to Yolei after sending a rapid response to Tai saying she'd tell him later. Her D-Terminal beeped again and she opened, seeing she had received a message.

"What about TK and Cody?" Ken asked when they stopped to wait for a traffic signal to close and they cross the street.

"TK just sent me a message saying that he met with Cody on the way to their building and that the two will use the computer from his house and find us there." Kari said looking at her D-Terminal shortly before closing it and putting it inside her purse again.

The rest of the way was basically silent, worry hanging over them clearly. One question was going through their heads. What had happened? And why now when all was finally quiet again?

Kari had a bad feeling about this. She just hoped that this time she could be wrong.

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><p>"M-Mimi?" Yolei said taken aback. She wasn't expecting that.<p>

The girl in question turned to look at them before smiling happily. "Hi guys!"

They had just entered Izzy's house and when they finally entered the boy's bedroom they had encountered another familiar person already there. And that person was Mimi Tachikawa, one of their digidestined friends that lived in the U.S.

_Of course._ Kari thought after a moment of confusion. _Mimi is spending two weeks at Sora's apartment. I had forgotten that._

"What are you doing here?" Davis said.

Mimi's smiling face disappeared and was replaced by a pout. "I'm trying to talk with Izzy!" When she saw their confused looks she continued. "I wanted to go to the mall today, but Sora said she had something to do, so I decided to call Izzy and ask him to go with me. Only he wasn't answering me, so I decided to come here!" She finished saying while glaring at Izzy.

"Mimi, I already told you, what I'm doing is really important." Izzy looked away from the computer screen and looked at her wearily. "I promise I'll go with you another time, but now I really can't." He then blinked surprised and turned to see that more people besides him and Mimi were in his room. "When did you get here?"

"Right now," Kari said. "Izzy, we need to use your computer for a moment."

"Didn't I just say that I was doing something important?" He asked frustrated.

"But we received an SOS message! We need to go to the Digital World as soon as possible!" Davis exclaimed.

These phrases made Izzy stiffen and Mimi's eyes widen. "Wh-what?"

"We received this message a little while ago," Yolei said showing the message on her D-Terminal to both of them. "Your house was the closest to us, so we came here."

Izzy frowned and muttered something to himself while Mimi pulled her D-Terminal from her purse and looked at it.

"I received nothing." She said catching Izzy's attention. He looked at his device and nodded negatively. "Neither did I." He looked seriously at the four young Digidestined. "Okay, you can use my laptop." And with that he pulled his yellow laptop from the table and opened it on his bed.

"But we still need to wait for-" Yolei's sentence was interrupted by a light tap on the window. Everyone turned at it and saw Gatomon holding Poromon outside the window. Mimi, being nearest to the window, opened it and the two digimon finally managed to get in.

"Just in time!" Yolei said, happy that they could now go straight to the Digital World to help anyone that was in trouble.

"What happened?" Gatomon asked as she approached Kari.

"We received an SOS message," the girl replied, making Gatomon look at Kari worriedly.

"You think it has something to do with it...?" Gatomon whispered to her.

"I don't know, but I sure hope not." She responded in the same tone, their conversation going unnoticed by the other occupants of the room.

Izzy finished typing something on his laptop and a portal to the Digital World appeared on the screen.

"What about T.K and Cody?" He asked.

"They'll meet us there," Ken said. Izzy nodded and left the front of the laptop, he and Mimi giving enough space for them.

"Let's go!" Yolei said. "Digi-Port Open!" And with that four people and their Digimon partners were brought to the Digital World.


	5. And the wheels begin to move

Hi everyone! I'm back! Sorry it took longer than normal, but these last few weeks have been hell for me. Well, but anyway, here is chapter five! Yay!

I tried to make this chapter longer than normal to compensate for the delay, and in the end I ended up liking to write it and in the end it was much longer than the others. But I hope you like it anyway ^ ^ I tried to make it a little bit darker than the others as it is now that things will start happening *smirks* Oh, and I tried to put a little action , though not so much because besides it not being my strongest point it wasn't my intention to make a big fight.

Well finally, I wanted to thank_ KoumiLoccness_ and _ Valechan92_ for having reviewed the previous chapter. Thank you, you're awesome! :D Plus a big thanks to my betareader, _Fox of Magic_! Really big thanks!

Now, without further ado I present you chapter five! I hope you like it! :)

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><p>'<em>Why now? Why <em>only_ now? Why not before?'_ These were the questions that were running through TK's mind. '_Why did he, whoever is he, wait so long to attack?'_

TK was running toward his apartment with Cody at his side. He had gone buy some things at a market a little distant from his house to his mother and on the way back he received a SOS message through his D-Terminal. Nice way to start a Friday afternoon, don't you think so? He then ran toward his house with Patamon trying to stand firm on his point above TK's head, and his grocery bad winging on his arm almost falling. When he was finally getting close to his building he saw Cody, who was running quickly in the same direction with Upamon in his arms. When he got closer to Cody they talked and decided to go to TK's apartment and use the computer there to go to the Digital World. He sent a quick message to Kari telling where they were and what they would do and asking about her. She replied that she was with Yolei, Ken and Davis and that they would use the computer in the Izzy's home to get there.

Then both of them continued to run in silence, a thousand questions going through their heads. The difference was that Cody had no idea what could be the cause of the message and TK had. '_It has been three days since Kari had that dream. Why then, something had to happen now? Why _only_ now? Could this be a trap?'_ TK's mind was creating more and more questions that he didn't know the answer. And that clearly frustrated him. That situation was really weird.

TK had quickly connected the SOS message with the problem that Kari, and now he too, were going through. As time passed, TK was thinking more and more that this nightmare was, unfortunately, not all just a dream_. 'And I have yet to tell Kari what Ken realized... Ugh! Why couldn't it all be just a dream? Why did evil digimon appear again and again? Yeah_...' TK was frustrated. But he knew if he was like that Kari should probably be in a very similar state. And it made him worried. If he had connected the two events so would have Kari, leading him to believe that she should have gone back to that almost chaotic state of concern. And the worst part was that neither of them could be sure that the dream really had something to do with this problem, everything could be just one big coincidence.

'_Stop TK!'_ He mentally scolded himself. '_It isn't the right time for you to be thinking about it. You have to concentrate on getting fast in the Digital World.'_

The two then, finally went into their building and stood in front of the elevator waiting for it to arrive. Luckily for them, it quickly came and they entered it.

TK sighed a little relieved. '_Finally.'_ He looked at Cody who was breathing heavily, clearly trying to regain his breath, and noticed that his breathing was also slightly altered. '_Well, we really ran a lot to get here.'_

The elevator finally stopped and as soon as the doors opened they ran toward TK's apartment. He hurriedly searched his house key in his pocket and when he finally found it he opened the door. The two entered noisily in the apartment that was completely silent and empty seconds before. Although he was on vacations, his mother was still working, so it was only him in the apartment during a big part of the morning and afternoon (except when his mother had to stay home to do some work in the computer).

TK put the grocery bags quickly and carefully over the dinner table and the two went toward his bedroom. Once they arrived, TK went immediately to the computer and began to turn it on. '_Why do computers take so long to turn on?'_ He thought impatiently with Cody by his side looking equally impatient and Patamon flying beside the screen with a serious and slightly anxious expression.

Cody looked at the clock in TK's bedroom while the computer finally finished turning on. While he was leaning forward to type something on his computer he suddenly remembered something. Cody had said he had to do something with his mother that afternoon and that was why he wouldn't be able to accompany them to see the movie. . Looking briefly to Cody it was obvious that this shouldn't even be the boy's mind. He finished typing and an image of the closed portal to the Digital World appeared on the screen

The two boys raised their D-3 in the direction of the screen and were soon involved in white light. The next second the room was empty with only a faint light coming from the computer screen.

* * *

><p>"According to the digivices, the SOS signal came from... here, "Cody muttered as he, TK and their partners emerged from within a forest and entered an area full of hills. They took their eyes off of their digivices and finally looked up. Cody's eyes widened as TK murmured: "No, it can't be..."<p>

In front of them, a little further down the hill, was a city digimon that had clearly been attacked. From the point where they were they could see that inside the city rose clouds of smoke which obviously shouldn't be there. Several buildings were destroyed and streets appeared with several holes. And they couldn't hear even a small noise coming from there. No noise being from digimon or attacks.

"We can't have arrived too late, can we?" Cody said half to himself.

"Let's go," TK said firmly. Cody turned to the older boy and saw he was looking at the city with determination. He obviously hadn't given up to the idea that they were too late.

"All right," Cody muttered. If TK hadn't lost hope then he shouldn't lose it too. The two started walking down the hill toward one of the entrances of the city. Armadillomon was walking beside them in a strange state of quietness, while Patamon flew a little ahead of them looking forward with a serious look.

They soon entered the city and began to walk calmly through the streets. Everything was silent. TK took his D-3 from his pocket and stared at the screen. The area where they were was circled in red with two red dots at the center of the image. _It seems that others aren't close._

They walked some more before they began to hear a soft whimper. The four paralyzed at the same time. The noise came from near where they were. Then the noise stopped for a moment. TK's eyes widened. '_No...'_

A noise of wood falling to the ground was heard. Surprised, they turned to the right. The noise was definitely coming from that small building. TK began to slowly get closer to there with Patamon flying as quietly as possible beside him. Cody and Armadillomon remained where they were, looking at TK.

"This is a restaurant!" The blond boy exclaimed surprised when he got close enough and saw a crumpled and dirty poster on the floor with the specialties from there. '_Well, at least it _was_ a restaurant.'_ The boy thought grimly.

He looked into the place through the hole where there should be a window before. Looking at the ground his thoughts were confirmed when he saw broken pieces of glass there. He leaned in a bit through the hole to try to see the place inside. Several tables and chairs were lying on the floor and some seemed broken. Several dishes with leftover food were seen on the ground near some small paintings that should have been on the walls above. Looking at the back of the place you could see a desk and a door, which probably led to the kitchen, in pieces on the floor. '_Whoever did it seems to have spared nothing.'_

And then he heard the noise again, that same sad whimper, now so low that if he wasn't leaning into the restaurant he wouldn't listen. His face got distressed for a moment. Obviously there was a digimon that was probably injured.

"Cody, I'll go in." He said turning to the young brunette.

"I'll go with you," was Cody's answer and it clearly showed that the boy was determined to help. TK nodded before passing through the broken door and entering the place with Cody and Armadillomon right behind him.

"Wow, look at the state of this place," commented a surprised Armadillomon, making TK remember that he and Cody hadn't seen the inside of the restaurant yet. They decided to split so they could look the place quicker to find where the sound came from. Soon TK heard Cody exclaiming: "TK, Patamon, come here!"

TK exchanged a worried look with Patamon and the two went to where Cody was with Armadillomon. Once there they saw the two trying to lift a stack of wood that were stacked near the back of the restaurant.

"The digimon is there?" Patamon asked.

Armadillomon turned to them and said: "Yes. I heard someone whimpering here, although the noise stopped since we started trying to move this wood. "

TK nodded before the two joined them and started taking the tablets of wood off of the way. Soon they managed to take most of the boards from there and managed to see an arm through the wood that was left. They quickly took off the rest of the boards to reveal a Floramon almost unconscious on the floor.

TK knelt beside her and shook her lightly. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you awake? Hey." He said softly.

The eyes of the little digimon fluttered before small blue eyes opened and looked at him.

"D-Digidestined...?" She asked tiredly. Once TK and Cody nodded she smiled. "So Peckmon's plan worked..."

Cody helped Floramon get up and after she stated that she was fine, just tired and with a slightly injured arm, she pleaded: "Please, you have to help us. They came so suddenly, we didn't know what to do."

Cody and TK looked at each other baffled. Then more than one digimon had attacked that city...

"Who attacked you?" Patamon said.

Floramon turned her gaze toward him before looking at the floor with a thoughtful expression. "I think I saw some Hyogamons, if I'm not mistaken. I also saw some Porcupamon and... And... A BlackGarurumon" She finished the sentence almost whimpering again. "It was... It was he who attacked the restaurant."

TK frowned. It seemed that there was more Digimon than he was expecting. But why would they make a group that large to attack that mercilessly a city that had done nothing wrong?

"You know where the other digimon went?" Cody asked.

Floramon shook her head. "No, I just know that when they began to attack us most fled. Some failed and..." She didn't finish her sentence, but it wasn't necessary. Then her eyes widened. She quickly got up from the place she was sitting before, grabbed Cody's arm and began pulling him toward what should be the kitchen. "Quick, quick! Liamon, he... he tried to help us, but then the roof collapsed and... You need to take him and Bearmon out of there!"

Cody let himself be led by the frantic digimon and TK and the other two digimon followed them. Entering through the broken door of the kitchen they realized that the place was in the same state as the rest of the restaurant.

Floramon led them to the corner of the kitchen (which, to TK's surprise, was very large) where there was a lot of wood in a pile much bigger than the one that was on top of Floramon. Again they started taking the wooden planks, which were obviously part of the roof, and after some time they managed to find a digimon that had an appearance much like a lion, and a small grizzly bear.

"Liamon! Bearmon!" Floramon exclaimed as she identified them. "Are you ok?"

Bearmon immediately looked up at the flower digimon from his point under one of Liamon's paws. "F-Floramon... You really managed to find help."

The digimon knelt on the side of the little bear and murmured with a small smile: "More like they found me. Peckmon's plan to call the Digidestined worked."

Bearmon looked at them and smiled gratefully but before he could say anything a deep voice said: "My sincere thanks, Digidestined."

The voice came from the lion digimon, who now began to rise slowly. He stretched a bit before looking at them again. "Thank you for coming to help us."

"It was nothing." Cody replied lightly before looking at TK, hoping he would say something, and getting surprised. The blue-eyed boy was staring at the floor with his bangs covering his eyes and with clenched fists. Cody realized that he was obviously trying to control his anger. Seemed like seeing Liamon and Bearmon in that state had been the last straw for him.

"Do you know if the Digimons who attacked this city are gone?" TK asked slowly.

"They are still here." Liamon replied confidently. "They came here looking for something and even if I haven't heard any noise of fights I'm sure they are still looking for it here. Probably all the Digimon who were here already fled."

TK nodded before he took a deep breath and relaxed his hand. "Okay, we'll look for them. Our friends must also be walking around town looking for some digimon."

"I'll send a message to them saying what we know." Cody said before leaving to type a message through the D-Terminal to them.

"You sure you are okay? Aren't you with bad injuries?" Patamon asked worriedly.

"Don't worry," Liamon smiled gently. "We're fine. A little sore but the woods weren't enough to hurt us that much. The only problem was getting stuck under them, but now we are free thanks to you."

"Do you have any idea what they might be looking for?" TK asked finally calmer. He now knew that getting angry wasn't a very good idea. Anger can make you lose important details, plus it made him act more recklessly.

"Actually," Bearmon began. "I think I remember BlackGarurumon talking to some other digimon before he left that he hadn't found the... what was the name he said? I think it was... Chist ... or something like that..."

"Crest?" TK asked starting to feel a bad feeling about this.

"Yes, that was the name!" Bearmon exclaimed. "He was very upset and kept saying: 'Why is it so difficult to find those Crests?'"

'_What?'_ TK's mind screamed. He and Patamon looked at each other. Now it was almost undeniable that this attack had something to do with Kari's dream.

"You know what he was talking about?" Floramon asked seeing the exchange of looks between them.

"In a way... I think so..." TK replied vaguely. His head was almost spinning. Sure, in the dream the digimon had referred to their crests, but he hadn't considered the possibility of the Crests actually have something to do with it. As far as he knew, he and the others had given the power of them to Gennai to restore the balance of the Digital World. So how could they be looking for them? And they wouldn't be able to catch them, as only their holders could get them...

"Ken said they are looking for the sign of any digimon being there and they will be alert. I told him we were going to try to find them so we can search together," said Cody's voice almost giving TK a scare. He turned to see that the brunette boy had returned to his side.

"So we'd better get going." TK said finally.

"We also," said Liamon before looking at that Floramon and Bearmon who nodded. "We will search for other digimon who may need our help around here."

TK nodded. "Be careful. As soon as we can we'll come back to help you."

"Thanks again Digidestined," said the lion digimon.

Cody smiled slightly and replied: "You're welcome."

The two Digidestined and their partners then turned and began to leave the restaurant. According to Cody the others were on the other side of town. TK sighed before looking at his D-3 and finally finding four other red dots far away from where the two dots that were him and Cody were. Yeah... they still had a long way to go...

* * *

><p>"Arg! Why would so many digimon be interested in attacking a city full of innocent digimon?" Yolei said frustrated while throwing her arms up.<p>

"Calm down, Yolei," murmured Hawkmon and the girl with glasses felt her partner put a wing on her leg. She sighed heavily before looking wistfully at the destroyed buildings they were passing by.

While TK and Cody had entered the restaurant and found the digimon, Yolei, Ken, Kari, Davis and their Digimon had been walking the streets across the city. Cody's message had relieved them a little; at least they knew that many digimons had escaped and there were still survivors in the city. But to see it in that state was still able to grieve them and knowing that it was the work of more than one digimon things made it even worse. It had served to frustrate them and leave them confused, and Yolei was clearly showing it.

"We'll figure it out," Davis muttered making the others look at him. He stopped walking and turned to them with a serious look. "If what Cody and TD found is true then they're still around here somewhere. And we'll find them and discover their motives."

The others looked a little surprised by his sudden speech, but then nodded. They then turned and continued to walk. Cody had said they would look for them, so it was better for them to find a good place to wait a bit.

They walked some more until they reached a place where the buildings opened and created more space, forming a circle in the center of them (something like a square). In the center of it was a large tree that was shading the grass around it, and near there were a few wooden benches. It seemed that the place hadn't been attacked, although the surrounding buildings showed that it had.

"Here seems to be a good place to wait," Ken said looking around before looking at his D-3. "They are getting a bit closer."

Davis sat on the bench beside them with Veemon and sighed relieved. "Ah, finally got to sit a bit. That running really tired me! And we had just come from a soccer game!"

Kari smiled as she shook her head. Even in that situation Davis could still act normally. '_Well, at least he's trying to.'_ She thought as she saw that even with a playful smile on his face he was still with his brow furrowed slightly.

She looked around and her forehead wrinkled as her gaze stopped at a building that seemed to be worse than the others around it. '_Hyogamon, Porcupamon and BlackGarurumon.'_ These were the digimon that Cody said a Floramon had seen. And there were several of them. Kari sighed. She still couldn't shake the feeling that this attack had something to do with her nightmare. Although she seriously hoped she could still be wrong.

A sudden noise took her from her thoughts. Everyone turned to the direction of a building where the door had just fallen on the floor. Everyone waited for a few tense seconds for something to happen. When no one came out from inside they relaxed a little. '_False alarm.'_ Kari thought relieved. It wouldn't be very good if they found the-

"Well, well. What do we have here?" A voice suddenly asked from behind Kari and Yolei. The two girls let out a yelp and turned away from the voice. Turning to see who was the owner of the voice, they saw a digimon that looked very much like a Ogremon but instead of having a green skin tone he had a blue one and was holding a piece of ice_. 'Hyogamon...'_

Davis and Veemon immediately arose from the bench and all digimon stood in front of their partners. The Hyogamon only watched them with amusement written in his face.

"What are you doing? Our orders were to-"Another voice said from behind them before it stopped in the middle of the sentence. "Oh, it looks like you found some outsiders here."

They turned back to see two other Hyogamons walking toward them. Davis gritted his teeth. Just what they needed when they wanted to be discreet.

"What is it? Lost your tongue?" The third Hyogamon asked with a chuckle.

"Why?" Davis said through his teeth.

"Huh?"

"Why did you attack this town?" He finished asking looking angrily at the Hyogamon.

"We were looking for one thing," The first Hyogamon replied with a smile. "The digimons were on our way so of course we had to get them out of there somehow. The destroyed buildings were only a small consequence."

When he finished speaking, he and the other two Hyogamons started laughing. Kari felt a great irritation starting to grow inside her. This whole time she was trying to stay calm while she tried to control her concern (after all, Davis was well within their group and her brother was sick at home, so it was not like anything could happen to him), but that was the last straw. How could digimons speak with so much... amusement... about killing other digimon? How?

"You, you... you monsters!" Yolei exclaimed stepping a few paces ahead. Kari turned to her friend a little surprised by her outburst. Her whole body seemed to be shaking slightly (probably from anger), and she looked at the three Digimon, who had stopped laughing, with almost disgust. "How can you talk about attacking innocent digimon so easily? Don't you have a heart?"

"Look here, little girl. Your way of speaking is starting to annoy me," The Hyogamon said. "I think it's time to teach you a lesson."

Kari's eyes widened when she realized what he meant. _'No!'_

"Yolei!" Hawkmon exclaimed while the Hyogamon lifted the piece of ice that he was holding.

The girl with glasses shouted the name of her partner while she closed her eyes and put her arms in front of her face, waiting for the imminent attack.

_**"Ice Cudgel!"**_ That was it. Yolei cringed a bit waiting for the attack, but it never arrived. She slowly opened her eyes and saw to her joy Aquilamon standing in front of her holding the hammer of ice between his horns. "Aquilamon!"

"Go back, Yolei," Aquilamon said with a much deeper voice than before. The girl quickly fulfilled what her partner asked her and walked until she was besides her friends.

"Humph, you brats," growled one of the other Hyogamon. The others turned to see that they were getting ready to enter the fight as well.

"Gatomon!" "Veemon!" "Wormmon!" Kari and Davis extended their D-terminals at the same time that Ken extended his D-3.

"Kari!"

"Ready, Ken!"

"Let's go Davis!"

_"Digi-Armor Energize!"_

_Gatomon armor digivolve to... Nefertimon!_

_Veemon armor digivolve to... Flamedramon!_

_Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!_

Now three new digimon stood in front of the Digidestined. Kari squeezed her D-terminal tightly as she watched the Champion digimon advance to attack the two Hyogamon.

_**"Throwing Ice!"**_

_**"Rosetta Stone!" "Flame Fist!" "Spiking Strike!"**_

The three digimons attacked at the same time as the Hyogamon started throwing large pieces of ice at them.

"Come on, get out of my way you grown up bird!" The Hyogamon that was being blocked by Aquilamon exclaimed angrily. _**"Ice Cudgel!"**_

_**"Blast Rings!"**_ Aquilamon quickly dodged the attack and fired at his enemy, throwing him away from there

"So that's how it's going to be?" The Hyogamon muttered as he rose_**. "Throwing Ice!"**_ He attacked throwing giant chunks of ice toward the red digimon.

_**"Blast Rings!"**_ Aquilamon shot again. His attack managed to break a some pieces of ice, but it was not enough to alone stop the attack, causing him to be hit and thrown to the ground.

"Aquilamon!" Yolei shouted worried. Her partner got up from the floor and after telling her he was all right, he took flight and returned to attack.

_**"Grand Horn!"**_

_**"Snow Barrier!"**_ A wall of ice appeared suddenly from the floor and stood in front of Hyogamon. Aquilamon continued with his attack and when his horns hit the wall it broke the ice, making the Hyogamon get surprised. Aquilamon continued straight and finally reached the digimon with his horns, throwing him further away. He didn't wait for the blue digimon to recover to attack again.

_**"Blast Rings!"**_ This time the attack threw the bewildered Hyogamon against the wall of a building, which collapsed under his weight and fell on him.

Meanwhile, the other three managed to stop the first attack from the Hyogamons and were now working together to overcome the two Digimon.

_**"Queen's Paw!"**_

_**"Iced Cudgel!"**_ A Hyogamon swung his ice hammer and deflected Nefertimon's attack. He turned to her angrily and attacked. _**"Throwing Ice!"**_

_**"Beam of Isis!" "Flame Fist"**_ Nefertimon and Flamedramon hit the ice cubes with their attacks, destroying them, and Flamedramon attacked soon after. _**"Flame Fist!"**_

_**"Snow Barrier!"**_ The Hyogamon created an ice barrier just like the first one did, except that his barrier had been enough to withstand Flamedramon's attack before melting.

The other Hyogamon used that moment while they were distracted by his partner's attack to attack them by surprise. He crept up behind them and tried to attack Flamedramon with his ice hammer.

"You didn't forget me, did you?" A voice asked by his side making him stop in the middle of his attack and see Stingmon flying swiftly in his direction. _**"Spiking Strike!"**_

Stingmon hit Hyogamon and brought him down upon one of the wooden benches that broke with his weight.

The other Hyogamon watched this scene with irritation. "Tch, it seems that they are more problematic than I thought." Then he turned to Stingmon and attacked. _**"Throwing Ice!"**_

Stingmon and turned just in time to see the attack coming toward him and dodged. The attack finally ended up hitting the other Hyogamon that was slowly rising from the broken bench, making him lay unconscious on the ground. The first Hyogamon looked surprised at his partner on the floor; he really wasn't expecting the attack to hit him.

"Hey, never take your eyes off of a fight!" The Hyogamon turned to see Flamedramon running in his direction while Nefertimon flew by his side. _**"Rosetta Stone!" "Flame Fist!"**_ The combined attack was enough to form an explosion that threw him away. When he finally fell to the floor next to his partner he was already unconscious.

"Yes! You kicked the ice heads' butts, Flamedramon!" Davis said excited. Flamedramon smiled happily in response. Shortly after, the three unconscious Hyogamons were piled in the center of the square with the Digidestined and their partners still digivolved around.

"Seems like it wasn't that hard, huh?" Davis said. "If the other Digimon who attacked this city were like this then we can teach them a lesson easily!"

Kari just shook her head with a small smile on her face as Davis and Flamedramon continued talking excitedly, Ken trying to calm them and Yolei rolled her eyes. After all that stress it was good to relax a little.

Kari looked around before looking at her D-3. It seemed that TK and Cody would be here any minute now. Then Kari heard a faint noise that made her stop. She looked at the others waiting to see if any of them had noticed something different, but they kept talking normally. Kari looked closely around trying to figure out where that noise came from, but found nothing unusual. Then the noise came again, this time stronger. Kari looked at a broken building, specifically at its window. Now she was sure that the noise had come from there.

Kari took a few steps toward the building, but soon stopped and tried to look what was in it from the place where she stood.

"Kari? What are you doing?" Nefertimon's question made everyone stop for a moment and look at her. "Kari?" Yolei asked confused.

The brunette turned to her friends with a small grimace on her face. "Didn't you hear any strange noise?" It made everyone look around a little uneasy.

"What kind of noise?" Ken asked with a frown. He certainly hoped that no other type of problem occurred.

"It seemed like..." Kari began with a thoughtful face before continuing. "I think it looked like the noise of a gun..." She shook her head. "Nah, it must have been my imagination, don't worry abo-" Then things happened too quickly.

"Watch out!" Kari heard a voice shouting followed by footsteps running toward her. When she was turning to see who had yelled she felt herself be thrown to the ground and then she immediately felt the weight of a body atop her. Less than a second later she heard the sound of gunfire. Then everything went silent.

Kari slowly opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) and looked directly into a pair of blue worried eyes. "Are you okay, Kari?" The owner of the eyes asked.

"T-TK?" Kari asked stunned. TK nodded before repeating his question. "Y-yes. I think so."

TK sighed with relief. "Good. I arrived just in time." He then got off of her and stood up, helping her get up at the same time.

"Guys!" A voice shouted from afar. Kari turned to see Cody running toward them with Patamon and Armadillomon beside him. So they had just arrived. Kari looked at the place where she had been standing seconds before and paled at the same time her heart began to beat faster with anxiety. There were several bullets and bullet marks on the floor. _'T-that was going to hit me..._' Kari thought astonished.

"W-what happened?" Was the only thing that Kari managed to say. TK turned toward the building that Kari was looking a little earlier. From there they began to hear a laugh.

"My, my, what a pity that the Child of Hope arrived. It would have been fun to see what would happen if I managed to hit the Child of Light a little bit..."

"Who are you? Come out!" Davis exclaimed angrily. Who had dared to attack Kari like that_? 'If TK had not arrived in time...'_ Davis shook his head. He didn't want to imagine it.

"Come on. Don't be so rude. I was just joking," The voice replied in an amused tone. Then a figure of a digimon with a blue with white stripes suit, a gray coat on top and a red scarf, a brown mask with small horns on, a long white hair and a big gun in his left hand.

"Who are you?" TK repeated Davis' question as he stood between the digimon and Kari. He felt Kari hold on his shirt slightly, as if talking to him not to try to approach the digimon. He gave her a brief smile to tell her not to worry before turning back to the digimon with a glare.

The digimon turned to them with a smile and after a mocked bow he replied: "My name is Astamon and for now you need not to worry about me. I just came here to give you a message and to get these three." He gestured with his head signaling the three unconscious Hyogamons.

He then circulated the Digidestined, who followed his movements with their eyes cautiously, and stood beside the Hyogamons. He then did something that surprised the chosen ones; he kicked them. When that failed he made an angry expression and began to tinker with his gun.

'_He won't... He isn't planning on shooting them... Is he?'_ Kari thought as she tightened her grip on TK's shirt.

"What are you going to do with them?" Cody asked looking Astamon cautiously. This digimon seemed unpredictable and he didn't want anything serious to happen because they were distracted.

"I'll wake them up," said Astamon like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You can't expect me to carry these three, can you?"

He then looked on the floor right next to the three Hyogamon and fired. The noise of the shot echoed through the silent city for a few seconds. '_What is he planning to do...?'_ TK thought narrowing his eyes slightly. His heart was still agitated over the whole situation. If he had arrived just a second later that time... TK didn't want to think, even if Kari only got slightly hurt the mere thought of her hurt when he could have done something to help distressed him.

Suddenly the three Hyogamon gave a cry of pain at the same time they saw an electric current passing through their bodies. The Digidestined and their partners looked horrified until the electric current seemed to vanish and they stopped screaming. They immediately got up and rushed to greet Astamon when they saw him. "Astamon, sir!"

"So you finally decided to wake up," Astamon said angrily. "Come on, we have nothing else to do in this town."

"So you mean..." One of Hyogamon began.

"Yes, we found it, although it wasn't here. Now let's go," the digimon with suit said impatiently before turning to the Digidestined and smiling derisively at them. "Well, it was a _pleasure_ to meet you personally."

He made another mocked reverence and the three Hyogamon chuckled. Astamon stood up and looked directly at Kari who was still behind TK. "Take this as a warning, Child of Light. We found what we were looking for. Now you will soon feel the consequences." He then waved to them and used the small bat wings on his back to fly away from there. The three Hyogamon started running in the same direction Astamon had gone, completely ignoring the Digidestined.

As they disappeared from sight TK turned to Kari looking worried and saw the same expression on her. Kari released TK's shirt and changed her grip to his arm. "So all of that was true, wasn't it? It wasn't just a dream." Kari said in a sorrowful tone.

TK nodded grimly. "It seems so..." He felt Kari's grip on his arm tighten. "Hey, calm down. We'll find a way to solve it all, you'll see." He said putting his hand above Kari's.

Kari looked at TK's eyes and smiled slightly before nodding.

"Hey, anyone here care to explain to me what is going on?" Yolei said exasperated. TK and Kari turned surprised at her and saw that all except Nefertimon and Patamon were looking at them confusedly.

TK looked at Kari and whispered. "It's your choice."

The brunette took a deep breath before nodding and turning to others. "We have much to tell you, but it's better to explain it all at once, the others will also need to know. Especially you and Tai." She finished saying looking at Davis, making him look confused at her.

Kari saw Ken exchange a brief look with TK before saying: "So we need to make a meeting as soon as possible."

"Right." Kari whispered.

Soon the Digidestined returned to do their tasks. As TK had promised Liamon, all of them would now help them find digimon that needed help through the city.

Unknown to most of the Digidestined, the wheels of a new adventure had begun to move, and now there was no turning back. They will have to unravel the mysteries surrounding Kari's dream and find a way to protect themselves from what the enemy has planned for them.

Kari sighed as she watched the sky_. 'I just hope everything works out in the end..._'

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><p>And that's it! This is chapter 5! Hope you all liked it! Please, don't forget to leave me a review telling me what you thought about this chapter, being it as a review, as an anonymous review or even a PM if you prefer. Constructive reviews are always welcome :P<p>

One last thing I wanted to tell you all (I decided to put it here so my note in the beginning of the chapter wouldn't be too long). Remember when I asked you to tell me which couple you would prefer, Taiora or Sorato, and if I should put Kenyako here? So, I finally received enough votes to have a resut. So it'll be Taiora and yea, I'll add Kenyako moments (I'll try, at least). Now, please Sorato fans, don't give up on my fic! It was a fair victory and besides Taiora not being the main couple this fic isn't all about romance. But yea, I'll put Taiora moments so there is no escaping.

Well, that was all I wanted to say. Till next chapter everyone! :D


	6. Calm before the storm

Hi everyone! I'm back! I'm reeeeally sorry for taking so long to post this chapter! I have been a little busier these days and this chapter was pretty hard to write (you don't know how many times I started writing it to soon delete it and start writing again). Well, anyway, here it is!

Thanks _KoumiLoccness_, _Secretiveninjathingy101_, _crestoflight3_ and _Magician of the Moonlight_ for your comments! Also, a big thanks to those who added this story to their favorites/alerts! Thanks guys! Oh, and a big thanks to _Valechan92_ too! (you'll see why in the end of the chapter ;D)

Besides all that, I just have one more thing to say. I've been researching lately about Japan so I could finally understand some things that were extremely confusing to me before. With all this, my biggest problem was the school year there. It seems that they start classes in the spring, somewhere around April If I'm not mistaken. But my story is set in the summer and would be in the place of the movie _"Revenge of Diaboromon"_. So just to leave no doubt, let's just imagine that the school year begins in late summer and ends at the beginning of it, okay? Then my story can be in the middle of their summer holidays, just after the end of the school year.

Okay, that was what I had to tell you. Now without further ado, here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!

PS:This chapter isn't betareaded yet, so sorry for the errors you may find in it. I already sent it to my betareader, but as I really wanted to post this I decided to post even if she hasn't sent it back to me. When she sends I'll change the chapter.

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><p>"TK... I think it's gonna rain..."<p>

A strong breeze passed making TK put a hand on his head to prevent his hat from being carried by the wind. The blond boy looked at the sky and frowned.

"Seems like you're right Patamon..." he sighed heavily before shaking his head. "Just today when I didn't bring my umbrella..."

"Maybe we can get to Izzy's house before it starts raining...?" Patamon said tentatively from his point in one of TK's arms.

"Maybe ..." The boy said dubiously looking at the clouds in the sky that were being pulled by the wind. "Although I don't think we'll be that lucky..."

TK hastened his pace and quickly entered into a park. As that day was a Saturday, the park was naturally a little crowded, with several people from all ages passing by him, enjoying the afternoon sun.

_I think taking a shortcut through will be be a good idea_. He thought before he realized what he'd just thought and shook his head with a sigh. Hadn't it been he who wanted to take the longest path to his red-headed friend's house so that he would have more time to think?

TK looked at the sky through the leaves of the tree he was passing beneath. Now one day had passed since the incident in the Digital World. Despite the small space of time, for TK it seemed like it had already been a much longer time. Since they had returned from the Digital World the day before he was feeling quite tense. What had looked like a rescue mission to save endangered Digimon had turned into something more complicated than he could have imagined. In the end, what he and Kari feared the most had become true. Kari's "dream" was real and they had seen till what extent that the digimon behind it was going to, to get what he wanted (whatever it was that he wanted).

Even when they returned both didn't have a moment of peace. They ended up coming back together through Izzy's computer with its onwer waiting for them to arrive. The teenage boy had lots of questions ready for them to answer and it didn't help the situation when he that he and Kari knew something that others didn't.

After an interrogation (which clearly failed), they finally agreed to arrange a meeting as soon as possible. With that they all managed to finally go home to try to relax and rest a bit.

But of course he didn't manage to rest enough. When he came home he surprised his mother, who was only expecting him coming home after the movie (something that had been completely forgotten and discarded from the minds of the younger Digidestined). After inventing an excuse that they weren't able to buy tickets because they were late, he decided to go to his room and lay in his bed to try to sleep a bit. It was obvious that his mother hadn't believed in what he had said but he was grateful that she let him keep this secret this time. Not that he liked to lie to his mother - no, he actually hated having to do so - but he didn't want to make her worried. At least for now he could prevent her from getting worried, because he knew that sooner or later he would end up having to tell her the truth.

Not long after this, his mother knocked on the door of his room saying that Matt was on the phone and wanted to talk to him. Frowning, TK took the phone from his mother and after thanking her he began talking with his brother. He obviously had discovered what had happened that day and was wondering how he was. After talking for some time with him, assuring him that he and the others were fine and the next day he and Kari would explain everything, he hung up.

After that TK went back to lying on his bed while he petted Patamon's head, who was lying beside him. That day had exhausted him completely, physically and mentally, but he couldn't fall asleep.

The rest of the night was spent in a uneasy way. TK and Patamon talked a little about what happened, but soon gave up and decided to look for something happier to talk about. This managed to cheer TK up a bit until the time he went to sleep and remembered what would happen in the next day. With his mood more serious, TK laid down in his bed. Of course that telling the others it all wasn't the bad part (it was actually good! This way they could help them discover something that they had missed and together they could solve that problem!), the part that left TK more concerned was that they now had the _need_ to tell it to them. It had become something real that couldn't be possibly avoided or imagined. And what left TK more frustrated was that they didn't know who was behind it or what was his/her reasons for doing it all. These thoughts led to a restless night for TK.

Now, already in the next day, TK was finally heading to Izzy's home, where the meeting would take place, through the longer way. He wanted to have enough time to think of everything he knew and to try to see if he couldn't find any more useful information that they could tell the others. Besides the fact that he still had to tell Kari of what Ken had said to him...

Patamon suddenly let out a surprised yelp taking TK out of his thoughts. "Patamon? What happened?" He asked looking up at his hat, where his partner was (when Patamon had left his arms and gone to the top of his hat? Wow, he must have been really distracted).

"Something wet fell on me!" The digimon exclaimed indignantly.

Looking around TK replied: "Perhaps some water that was in one of the leaves of these trees fell on you."

Before Patamon could respond him effectively, the Digimon felt something fall on him again, making him yelp surprised, again. Looking around, he answered: "We're not under any tree! That was a raindrop!"

Stretching out a hand, TK soon felt a few thin drops of rain fall on it. "You're right Patamon," the boy replied with a small grimace. Seems like they were unable to avoid the rain.

Once TK began to walk again he soon felt more drops fall on him. He looked up again and suddenly the rain began to fall harder and faster. Releasing an exclamation of surprise at the same time as Patamon, TK started to run, looking for a shelter as near of them as possible. Around them the other people in the park were also running to avoid the rain or were opening umbrellas that they had brought with them.

The blond boy continued running until he saw a large tree, still in the park, that offered a good dry area for them to hide from the rain. He ran in its direction and after almost bumping into someone that was running away from the rain too, he managed to lean against the tree trunk, panting.

He looked at his clothes and sadly realized that they were as wet as he had thought they were._ Well, it seems like I'll have to handle it till I arrive at izzy's apartment._ Taking his soaked hat from his head, he ran his hand through his blond locks in an attempt to take some water out of it. It had been almost completely saved thanks to his hat and Patamon, who was now flying by his side.

"You should have brought an umbrella as your mother had said TK," said Patamon with a few drops of water dripping down from his face.

TK laughed as he put his hat back. "Yeah, you're right." He looked around trying to see something through the thick rain. "But at least summer rains don't last long."

Patamon sighed resignedly. "Then we'll have to stay here for awhile..."

"It seems so..." TK replied distractedly. He didn't mind a little rain, even thunderstorms were interesting to him. He just loved the smell of wet grass that the rain brought with a pleasant somewhat cold weather.

Looking at his partner and seeing him shaking slightly TK quickly picked him up and held him in his arms. Yeah, he liked rain, but getting wet because of it wasn't very good. Even more if he got the flu... He didn't even want to imagine the scolding that his mother would give him for not taking an umbrella with him as she had said.

"Hey TK," Patamon's voice took TK from his thoughts. "Isn't that Kari?"

His question surprised TK. "Huh?" He turned his gaze to where Patamon was looking and saw that indeed there was a lone figure walking slowly across the now almost empty park, under a pale orange umbrella. "I... think you're right..."

He stepped forward in an attempt to see the figure better but soon backed away when he felt a drop of water falling on his head.

"Hey, Kaariii!" Patamon cried.

The figure paused for a moment and then turned toward them making TK finally recognize the expression of surprise on the face of his friend. She took a hesitant step toward them as if she hadn't recognized them through the rain. TK waved slightly and Kari's eyes lit up, having finally realized who was there.

"TK, Patamon!" She exclaimed surprise as she approached them. "What are you doing here?"

"We decided to take the longest path to Izzy's home," TK said. "What about you? Your apartment isn't close to here."

"I decided to walk a little before going to the meeting," Kari replied a bit hesitantly.

"She wanted more time to think," said a muffled voice drawing the attention of the three present there.

TK blinked in surprise. He knew this voice. "G-Gatomon?"

"Hello!" The face of the cat digimon appeared from behind Kari's back scaring TK and Patamon.

Patamon left TK's arm and flew until he was behind Kari. "Oh, you were hiding inside a backpack!"

Gatomon finally emerged completely from her hiding place and went into Kari's arms. "Of course! I may not like that place, but it's still better there than getting wet from the rain!"

"But you're under an umbrella," TK stated.

Gatomon shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

TK just nodded with a smile. Although a digimon, Gatomon was still a cat by nature.

Kari leaned closer to TK and Patamon, who had now returned to the blond boy's arms, and seemed to consider something for a moment before touching TK's T-shirt and frowning.

"It's really wet," Kari mumbled to herself. Then she turned to look at the two in front of her. "You were caught by the rain when it started and didn't bring an umbrella, did you? That's why you're under that tree."

TK looked sheepishly at her. "Oh... well..."

"I told him to bring it!" Patamon said defending himself.

"I can't help that the sky was cloudless and made me think that it wouldn't rain," TK tried to defend himself, still embarrassed. Thinking back, that thought seemed stupid. After all, it was always possible to have unexpected rains in the summer. Although in his defense, if he was walking around with an umbrella in his hand people would stare at him more than they already did because he was carrying a "stuffed animal". Normally, this wouldn't bother him, but today he really wanted to have peace to try to think a little and that included the least amount of inquisitive eyes cast toward him.

This made TK remember something. "Hey, Kari," The girl in question looked curiously at him. "You were walking in a place distant from your home to think?"

"Yeah..." The brunette said with a sigh. "You too, huh?" That was more of a statement than a question.

TK nodded. "A lot has happened in these days. I was thinking of everything to see if we lost some information or let something slip."

"Me too," she replied with a small smile. When TK was suddenly silent for a while, Kari looked at him worriedly. "TK? Are you okay?"

The boy looked at her for a second before sighing and starting. "In... the day we all went to the Digital World..."

Kari's eyes widened slightly, clearly remembering the day.

"Is there anything else that happened that day?" Gatomon asked from Kari's arms.

"Yes," Patamon answered in TK's place. "But I didn't notice anything at the time, it was TK who told me this."

Kari got thoughtful. "I don't remember anything unusual."

TK nodded, having expected that answer. "You didn't notice anything strange about Ken?"

"About Ken?" Kari repeated confused. Her expression became more concentrated as if she was trying to remember details of the day. "Now that you mention it, he seemed a bit cautious when we found them... But that was because of the situation, wasn't it?"

"Seeing his best friend so suddenly fall into a river would make anyone look like this," Gatomon mumbled slightly, making Kari chuckle. She still found the idea a bit funny, but when TK remained serious she stopped and looked at him more hesitantly. "That was an accident... wasn't it?"

TK sighed. "You also felt a slight presence before we got there, didn't you?" When they nodded he continued. "Well, it wasn't our imagination. I talked to Ken later that day and it seems that he also saw something strange in that situation."

"So... that presence..." Kari's eyes widened when she realized the implication that the phrase led to.

"It seems that it was it who made Davis trip," TK replied seriously. The temperature of the environment seemed to have fallen a few degrees making Kari squeeze Gatomon more tightly in her arms. "Ken said he saw a dark shadow over the trees jump in front of Davis' foot before jumping back and hiding in the forest again. He said he tried to distinguish what digimon it could be, but he could only see a dark blur and a wind indicating that something was there. That's how Davis tripped and fell into the river." TK grimaced. "And somehow it seems that Davis truly believed he had stumbled on a stone, even if there were no stones there."

"He himself believes that he is clumsy," Patamon said shaking his head.

"And with all this and more of us coming on the scene almost frantic only increased his suspicions that there was something strange there." TK continued. "He asked me if we knew something and I said yes, but we weren't sure that it was true. If we were then we would tell them all. And as he said, it could still be only a shy digimon passing there that unintentionally made him trip."

"That's why Ken seemed to know something yesterday," Kari whispered to herself, finally joining the loose ends.

"Then Davis was indeed the target," Gatomon said.

"Not necessarily," Kari said absently, eyes a bit vague. "It could have been a distraction."

"Distraction?" Patamon asked.

"It's like... as if the real target was my brother and this served to distract us and make us focus on Davis, leaving Tai more vulnerable." Kari commented still absently. She really didn't like that idea.

"Or it could have been something to make us lower our guard, as we kind of did," continued TK, understanding what Kari meant.

"But then why didn't they use this chance to attack?" Gatomon asked. All of them remained quiet; nobody knew the answer to that question.

"So that's what you were hiding from me," Kari said vaguely after a while, eyes still a bit blurred as if she was distractedly thinking about something. Blinking a little surprised by the sudden change of subject, he looked sheepishly to the side. Of course, he should have known that she would realize that he was keeping a secret from her! This was Kari, his best friend that he has known since they were small, that they were talking about! Nobody knew as much about TK as her (okay, maybe he shouldn't exaggerate. He shouldn't forget his brother and his mother too... but that wasn't the point!). Her eyes finally focused and she looked hard at him. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

TK opened his mouth and closed it soon after. He remained a bit silent as if he has struggling with the words and then finally said: "I didn't... know exactly... if Ken had really noticed something. And even after I talked to him we couldn't be so sure that it was true. Ken himself wasn't completely sure that it wasn't his imagination." He sighed. "Besides, you were already worried with other things. If it wasn't true I would just make you worry even more about something that was nothing in the end and i didn't want to see you like that."

Kari blinked, surprised by his answer, before she blushed slightly. So he was thinking of her all that time... Although she still preferred him to have told her about it before, she could see his point. She was really had been anxious these days...

"Don't you think it's better for us to start going to Izzy's house again?" Gatomon suddenly said while trying to hide a small smirk. "If we continue like this we'll be late for the meeting and I'm sure it'll only make the others worry about us."

TK sighed, completely clueless from the small reddish tint on Kari's face and Gatomon's smirk, realizing that Gatomon had a point. He could even imagine his brother's reaction if they were really late... And speaking of brothers...

"How is Tai?" TK asked Kari. That was a good way to change the subject and he wanted to know how the older boy was too.

"Still with the flu," Kari answered rolling her eyes. "And very grumpy. It seems that he hoped he would be much better today, but he's still almost the same. And as he said: "How can I be with the flu while something so important is happening in the Digital World?""The brunette continued trying to imitate her brother's voice.

TK and Patamon chuckled slightly as Gatomon rolled her eyes, clearly remembering the scene.

"But is he that bad?" Patamon asked.

"Not really," Gatomon replied. "He's just stubborn... and grumpy. He still insists in blaming Izzy for he being like this. And you don't know how he likes to remember it."

"But he's still going to the meeting, right?" TK frowned.

Kari nodded. "He wouldn't miss it. Even if he was with his legs broken he would find a way to go."

"Wouldn't it had been better if you had gone together?" Patamon asked.

"Nah," Kari said with a big smile, surprising TK and Patamon. "He has Sora to accompany him."

TK blinked for a moment. "Sora?"

Kari nodded excitedly. "Yes. She appeared in our apartment a little before I left. Her plan was to see how Tai was and to accompany us to Izzy's apartment but I took the chance and used it to convince Tai to let me walk a little before going there."

"And you left them alone," TK finished shaking his head.

Kari just nodded with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. _Who knew Kari liked to play Cupid, huh?_

"Well then, let's go," The brunette finally said turning to look at the path by which they would go

"Huh..." TK hesitantly murmured as he watched carefully the rain that was still falling heavily.

"You silly," Kari said with a smile when she saw the expression on TK's face. "Of course I won't let you two go in the rain. There's room enough for all of us under my umbrella."

TK looked grateful to Kari before he and Patamon went to her side, under the pale orange umbrella. Gatomon quickly returned to her hiding place inside Kari's backpack and they finally began to walk again. They talked the whole way under the umbrella, until halfway through, the rain finally stopped and they closed the object before continuing their way, now under a now clearing sky.

TK looked Kari with a smile as she spoke something. He was really happy to have found her along the way. Now he felt a little lighter and more determined. He knew that in the end everything would work out and that they'd solve that problem. _For sure_!

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><p>"TK, Kari! I'm so glad you two came! Come in, come in!"<p>

"Huh?"

*Exasperated sigh* "I don't even want to try to understand..."

"Sora, what do you think you're doing? You won't escape from my question!"

"I'm not trying to escape Mimi. What gave you that idea? So... TK, Kari, how are you? You got here a bit early..."

"... How about you try to explain to me again what you were searching in your computer, Izzy?"

"... Good idea, Tai."

TK blinked a few times, trying to absorb everything that was happening in front of him. He and Kari had arrived a little earlier at Izzy's home because they were afraid that because of their little break in the park they would be late. Now they had arrived early at the house of their redheaded friend and to their surprise, they found Sora opening the door.

To say that the redheaded girl was nervous would be an understatement. With almost a forced smile and eyes that turned to Mimi before quickly deviating from the brunette, she greeted them and pulled them into the apartment, looking strangely relieved to see them.

After that everyone seemed to want to start talking at once. Mimi began to argue with Sora and while the brunette seemed to know something, she never told clearly what she wanted to know making everyone, even the ones that were already there before, except Sora, get lost in their conversation. Quickly, Tai and Izzy arranged excuses and left the scene heading in the direction of Izzy's room, muttering something about "being on the computer looking for something important".

This left TK, Kari their digimons staring blankly at the two girls.

"I... I think I'll go with the others..." TK whispered after a moment. "I'll see if there is a towel Izzy can lend me."

Kari glanced at him and casted a small smile. She seemed to be finding the situation a bit funny and the response of the boys at it even more fun.

"So... huh... bye!" And with that the blond boy quickly left the living room and disappeared in the hall. Patamon, who was flying, saw his partner disappear, confusedly. Looking back at the others in front of him he decided to follow TK. _Humans have some weird habits. Especially the girls..._ The small digimon thought before he too disappeared in the hall.

Kari sighed looking at the scene before her. That really was an extreme change in the environment. Here things seemed much calmer and nobody was looking with eyes that said they wanted answers. Breathing a little relieved, she decided to say something.

"So... Would you two mind explaining to me what is happening here?"

Immediately the two teenage girls looked at her. While Sora's eyes widened slightly, Mimi smiled triumphantly.

"Sure!" "No!"

Kari blinked. "Huh..."

"Of course we will explain to her what is happening," Mimi said glaring at Sora. "She has the right to know. The poor girl must be completely confused and curious!"

"There will be no need to say anything if we just let this matter drop!" Sora answered moving to sit on the couch in the room.

"Sora!" Mimi huffed. "Stop avoiding this issue! The more you do it, the more obvious it becomes that you're hiding something from me!"

Sora looked down sheepishly. "That's not fair... You know I don't wanna talk about it."

Mimi sighed sadly and sat on the couch next to her friend. "But Sora, if you don't tell me anything how will I be able to help you? I know something's bothering you, especially these days!"

Sora didn't answer, she just stared at the ground, a flood of emotions going through her eyes.

Kari looked extremely confused to the scene before him. _Okay, now I'm starting to get worried. What is happening?_

"Can one of you please explain to us what're you talking about?" Gatomon asked dryly from her place beside Kari, in the ground. Despite being a digimon, Gatomon already knew a little more humans and about girls and their "girls talk" and now she was getting curious and angry with that confusing exchange in front of her.

Mimi took the chance and spoke before Sora could mumble something. "It all started when Sora arrived here, earlier, _with Tai_."

"I really shouldn't have suggested for us to start going earlier so we wouldn't be late..." Sora muttered under her breath.

Kari nodded as she sat in an armchair in front of the couch where the two were. She remembered when Sora had gone to her house, so it was logical that the two would come together.

Mimi leaned farther forward and continued talking in a calmer tone. It was obvious she didn't want anyone else to hear her. "So I, being a master in these matters," she said with a mischievous smile. " decided to question Sora on the fact that they came together."

"And I said," Sora replied indignantly. "that I was worried about him and went to visit him before we decide to come together! Isn't it right Kari?" At the end she looked expectantly at the younger girl. Kari only nodded, wanting to see to where this conversation was going to end.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Yes, but you haven't told me why you looked so sad when I hinted that something was going on between you two."

Sora hesitated for a moment before answering. "I said I wasn't sad! I was just thinking about something."

Mimi didn't wait another second. "And what were you thinking about that left you with that expression?"

"It was nothing!"

"And that brings us to where we were when you arrived," Mimi completed with a weary sigh. It seems that that was being repeated for some time now.

Kari looked puzzled at the two teenagers in front of her. Now she was curious about that too. She remembered that when she was younger she could imagine Sora and her brother getting together and start dating when they were older, so when Sora and Matt suddenly started going out together she had been perplexed. She had even asked her brother about it and he seemed fine with their relationship. He said that if the two were happy and made each other happy that everything was fine. Kari almost snorted. Sure. As if she would believe that.

The next few months went well between them. Surprisingly, Tai was keeping what he said and went out with the two as if it didn't bother him, even if his sister knew that it wasn't completely true. Then something else happened that made her surprised. Matt and Sora, suddenly, without a warning, broke up. It surprised everyone, who were even more perplexed when the two remained friends as much as they were before they started dating. It was like those months never happened.

And as strange as it seemed, her brother, Matt and Sora kept hanging out together as best friends as if those memories carried no uncomfortable moment between them. And now Kari was sure something was happening between her brother and the redheaded girl. Kari sighed. Love lives were really problematic...

She remained in silence until she noticed something and finally broke the silence. "... What are those shopping bags doing here...?"

Mimi and Sora blinked for a moment before turning to where she was pointing. Sora began to smile before finally laughing, understanding where that situation would end. Mimi stared at her friend before turning to Kari and answering.

"I made Izzy keep his promise and go with me to the mall," the older girl said with a shrug as if it was something completely normal.

Kari smiled. "Ooh, so that's why you were already here when Sora and Tai arrived."

Mimi nodded with a smile. "I had to take this chance. After all, we don't know what will happen after this meeting or whether we'll have some time of peace, so I took him by force from his computer and we went shopping."

Kari and Sora laughed at the image that had formed in their minds. _Ah, if Izzy was hearing this he would certainly be very red!_ Kari thought.

With that the three girls continued to talk about various subjects, laughing most of the time. Gatomon looked at the scene before shaking her head. She had understood most of what they had spoken, but being a digimon she didn't understand why they thought it was all so fun to talk about.

A little later more and more digidestined began to arrive until they were all together in Izzy's bedroom. After everyone was able to find a place to stay (either standing or sitting on the floor), they looked around at each other, expecting someone to say something.

Izzy looked at Tai and when he nodded he sighed. "Okay, let's get this started."

With this, the meeting that the majority of those present were waiting began. Kari glanced at TK and sighed. Now there was no turning back. _Let's go._

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><p>Aaand... That's it! I know this chapter was somewhat random (at least I think so…O.O) and had some not very well written moments, but I needed to put these scenes in the story sometime and the scene in the beginning had to come before the meeting. The second one is basically a bonus scene... I had to add it sooner or later, so I decided to put it now. It also would be placed in the next chapter but I thought you deserved a chapter a little bigger so I decided to leave it here. Thanks to <em>Valechan92<em> for this idea! Now I finally introduced Taiora to this fic :D Hehe

Now, we're almost near the explanations! I'm still wondering if the next chapter will be divided into two or not... Either way, in the next chapter we'll see how things will start happening to our dear Digidestineds *evil grin* or at least one of them...

Well, that's all. Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to send a review! Till next chapter! See you! Bye!


	7. The dangers of fingers becoming green

Err, hello! Now, before you say something, I know it took me long to post this chapter! And I'm extremely sorry about that! I apologize to everyone who was expecting a faster update! Now, instead of making you waste time reading the reasons why it took me so long to post this chapter, I'll skip that part so you can start reading the chapter sooner! :D

A big thank you to _Valechan92_, _JyouraSorato_, _crestoflight3_, _Digital Savior _and _Dark3ch03_ for reviewing my fic! Thank you, you don't know how happy I was when I saw your reviews :D Many thanks also to everyone who put this story into their favorites or alerts! Thanks a lot everyone! Oh, and thanks also to my betareader, _Fox of Magic_!

PS: Just so nobody will get confused! This chapter begins just before the ending of the last chapter. There we saw what was happening with Sora, Mimi and Kari, and now we'll see with TK, Tai and Izzy who are in Izzy's room. And I know it feels like I put this small and unimportant scene for nothing, but later it will become more important, besides the fact that it is acting as an input to the start of the Digidestined meeting...

Okay, now I'll let you read in peace. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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><p><strong><em>A few minutes before the meeting started...<em>**

Izzy tapped his fingers impatiently on the table where his computer was a few times before he sighed, rose from his chair and started walking from one side to another in his room. That problem was really stressing him and the fact that it had already being happening for a few days didn't help. _C'mon, I need to think. This isn't difficult_. The red-haired boy thought as he walked with his arms crossed.

"Huh... Izzy. Can you take a break? You're too nervous and I'm sure this way you won't discover anything." Tai muttered from where he sat at his friend's bed.

Izzy paused for a moment and looked frustrated at Tai before sighing again and sitting in the chair where he was before. "You're right, I need to calm down."

Sitting on the bed next to Tai, TK was looking at his redheaded friend while he was quietly wrapped in a towel. Since he had entered the room and asked to borrow a towel no one had told him specifically what was happening, but from what he had managed to find out it seemed that neither Tai knew exactly what Izzy was doing.

As if on cue, Izzy turned to TK and Tai and smiled apologetically. "You must be confused, especially you TK." He sighed again before he turned to his laptop and tried to type something, only to see a warning message appear on the laptop screen and make Izzy grunt frustratingly. "It's been a few days since I've started trying to solve a problem that appeared on my laptop. It looks like somebody is trying to invade it but is failing and when I try to discover who is doing this it is _me_ that is blocked." The teenage said with a grimace while turning to his companions. "It's almost as if a barrier, that I didn't create, is around my laptop preventing someone from outside from getting into it and preventing me from finding out who it is."

"Oh," TK nodded, the actions of his red-haired friend now finally making sense.

"Like this it's easy to understand, right Izzy?" Tai exclaimed throwing his hands in the air dramatically. "It felt like you didn't want me to understand, talking with all those complicated terms like you were before..."

Izzy smiled a little embarrassed. "My bad. I was distracted thinking about what I could do that I think I just exaggerated with the technical terms..."

"Yeah, no kidding..." Tai muttered causing Izzy to roll his eyes. He wasn't that bad, was he...?

"I've been trying since Tuesday to find out what is blocking me and how to break this 'barrier', but nothing I do is working." The red-haired teen turned again to his laptop and began typing something on the keyboard. "I installed a new program that should take care of all that, but it seems that when it was activated some part of it was damaged and I cannot figure out how to make it work again..."

Izzy turned to them again and saw that Tai had his eyes closed and TK was stroking Patamon, who was in his lap, both with thoughtful expressions. Turning to his computer with a small smile, Izzy felt grateful that the two were trying to help, although he wasn't expecting them to know what to do since they didn't know anything about the program he was using.

Sighing, Izzy returned to tapping his fingers on the computer table. That was going to be a long afternoon.

They remained silent for some time, until the sound of a bell brought them out of their thoughts. Izzy turned to look at the clock on the wall of his room and his eyes widened slightly when he realized it was already the time of the meeting.

Soon the three girls and Gatomon, who were in the living room, came into his bedroom with Cody and Yolei, who were holding Poromon and Upamon, accompanying them. Not long after that, Matt and Joe arrived and finally Davis and Ken with their digimon arrived a little later. All the Digidestined then were finally gathered in the bedroom waiting until the beginning of the meeting that most of them were waiting for.

Izzy watched as his friends settled somewhere in his room before looking at Tai and see him nodding. That was his cue to start the meeting. He sighed before beginning to speak. "Okay, let's get this started." The redhead turned to Cody. "Can I borrow your D-Terminal for a little bit?"

The young boy nodded before taking from his pocket said object and giving it to Izzy, who quickly opened it while he began to speak. "As you all know, yesterday the Digital World was attacked." He kept fiddling with the object in his hand until it made a faint '_beep'_. "The younger Digidestined received the same SOS message in their D-Terminals asking them to go help a city that had been attacked." And with that he turned the D-Terminal to show that message, which was basically a big writing 'SOS' with the coordinates of a city below it.

"A message from an entire city?" Matt asked frowning slightly. He, like some of the other Digidestined in that room, didn't know much of what had happened, only that an attack had happened and that the younger ones were called to help.

"Yeah," Yolei said sadly while she remembered the destroyed city. "As we discovered later, it was a Peckmon who sent the message that way so we would focus only on finding the culprits and stop the attacks instead of trying to look for who sent the message."

"Did you find this Peckmon later?" Sora asked, concern showing on her face for the digimon who had thought about the welfare of everyone in the city.

"Yes, we found him." Kari said with a small smile. "At the time he wasn't very well, but he was quickly treated and now he's already better."

"Now just a minute," Tai said still from his spot on the bed leaning against the wall. "What _exactly_ happened there?"

"That's where I wanted to get," Izzy said as he handed the D-Terminal back to Cody with a 'thank you'. Izzy then turned expectantly to the younger Digidestineds.

It was Ken who started. "When we received the message each of us was in a different place. We," he said pointing to himself and Davis, "had just met with Kari and Yolei and together we came here so we could go to the Digital World. We arrived there from a television near the city and we kept walking through it for a while until we received Cody's message."

The brown-haired young boy nodded, taking the cue for him to continue. "I met with TK on the way back to our building and we went together to the Digital World. We arrived from a television in the forest near the town and we walked through the streets a bit until we found some Digimons inside a destroyed restaurant." Cody said seriously while he squeezed the tip of his shirt. "It was them who told us about how the attack had happened in the town and it was Floramon who later told us that the SOS was Peckmon's idea."

There was a general silence while everyone who hadn't heard of it absorbed the information given to them. TK looked at the thoughtful expressions on the faces of his friends before turning to Kari, who gave him a small smile when he nodded. It's about time they started talking about what they knew.

"They..." The blond boy began to speak turning all the attention to him. "They said something else too." This gained him a puzzled look coming from Cody. "When you sent the message to the others you moved away a bit, right?" Cody nodded, remembering the moment. TK took a deep breath before continuing to speak. "I didn't tell you anything about it at the time because I thought I might have misheard Bearmon or even imagined that he could have heard it wrong, but with what happened after I doubt it. He said he had heard the BlackGarurumon who attacked the restaurant talking with another digimon about how they still hadn't found the Crest yet..."

The reaction was immediate. Almost all of the older Digidestined began talking at once making it impossible to understand what each one spoke specifically, although the idea that they were confused had been conveyed clearly. They all knew, even the younger Digidestineds in their group - who had already heard this story -, that they had given their crests to re-establish the balance of the Digital World, all this by Gennai's request, who had already explained to them the situation. With this, how could it be possible that someone was looking for them?

"I know, I know," TK said raising his hands in a sign of surrender, since most of the confused shouts were directed at him (even if everyone knew he wouldn't know the answers). "I also thought this when I heard Bearmon say this at first. But everything indicates that this may be true..." And with that he glanced at Kari who was staring at her hands in her lap.

All gazes followed his movement and realized that this was part of what both of them and their digimon were hiding from them.

"What happened then?" Mimi asked gently looking at Ken, indicating that she wanted to know what came after what he told them.

"We continued walking around the city, only this time we were looking for a place we could wait Cody and TK meet us so we could go look for the digimon who had caused all that destruction," Ken said frowning slightly. "That's when three Hyogamons appeared."

"Yeah, and then we fought with them and kicked their butts!" DemiVeemon said suddenly, causing some people in the room to chuckle slightly as the tension in the room decreased a bit.

"They deserved it," Davis muttered with an annoyed expression on his face as he remembered the three digimon. "But after that a digimon called Astamon appeared and..." he continued before stopping and grimacing at the memory.

"And...?" Joe asked curious while the others who weren't on the scene at the time wondered why Davis had stopped in the middle of his sentence.

"And he shot me," Kari ended with a blank stare.

"What?" Tai exclaimed with his eyes widening. He immediately leaned forward looking seriously at his sister, who was sitting on the floor against the wall in the opposite part of the room where he was.

Kari's vague look settled in Tai and she immediately felt guilty. Raising her hands in a sign that told him to wait, she said: "Calm down, Tai. I'm fine. He missed me." She then turned to TK and gave him a small smile that he returned. "TK appeared just in time and saved me."

The older boy looked at her intently for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and slowly leaning against the wall again while he closed his eyes, clearly still trying to calm down. Tai soon felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and he opened his eyes to see Sora watching him with concern in her eyes - something he knew wasn't only because of him, but because of Kari and the situation as a whole as well. He needed to control himself; he wasn't the only one there worried, seeing the glances his friends were casting around the room. He nodded slightly before muttering, "Okay. Thank you, TK."

The blond boy nodded back, his brow slightly furrowed. He remembered very clearly the scene and he really wanted to avoid thinking about it as much as possible; the possible result of it if he hadn't arrived in time was still tormenting his mind and was always there reminding him of the seriousness of the situation.

"And what happened then?" Sora finally asked cutting the tense silence that had settled in the room.

Kari sighed before taking her gaze from her lap, where it had gone back, and saw everyone looking expectantly at her. It was time she started talking about all she knew. A comforting paw on her arm from Gatomon and the calm looks from TK and Patamon showed her that everything was fine and that they were there to help her in telling it all. Even so, releasing all the information that she had been holding as much as possible to try to protect those precious to her was somewhat difficult.

"Astamon basically said that he only came there to do two things: pass us a message and go with the three Hyogamons away." Kari began to speak again with eyes a little vague. "He... awoke... the three Hyogamons who were unconscious," she cringed a bit when reminding the scene, "and said they were leaving because they had found what they were looking for, even if _'it'_ wasn't there."

"Was he... Talking about the Crests?" Mimi asked with a puzzled expression on her face. Although it was hard for her to think that her crest still existed and that someone was looking for it, she knew that TK and Kari wouldn't have said it if they didn't have not even a bit of certainty that it was true.

"That's what we think," TK nodded.

"And the message?", Matt asked.

"'Take this as a warning, Child of Light. We found what we were looking for. Now you will soon feel the consequences.' It was something like that, wasn't it?" Yolei dictated looking at Kari curiously. Since the previous evening these phrases had been stuck in her head and she couldn't forget them, making her feel a shiver every time she thought about them. They could only mean trouble.

Kari nodded. "Yea, it was..."

"And what does that mean?" Izzy asked after having remained silent for a long time.

"For you to understand I'll have to go back to the day before we went to the Digital World, which was when I had my nightmare," Kari admitted looking seriously at all her friends. She saw her brother's eyes widen slightly and she sent a silent apology to him through her eyes.

And then Kari began to tell everything she knew with TK and Gatomon adding some comments from time to time in the scenes in which they were present. All the information that she had been keeping with her since a few days ago was finally released and even though she felt some frustration within her - after all, if she had to tell it to the others it meant that all of it was true, something she had been hoping it wasn't -, she also felt relief for not having to hide anything from her friends and her family.

Everyone else stayed silent while they listened Kari, their expressions only varying slightly from person to person and from digimon to digimon, and according to what was said. The nightmare with the Dark Ocean; the mysterious voice's warning; Davis tripping in the river; the calm days that were soon followed by the sudden attack in the Digital World. All the details that they noted were counted, nothing would be held from them. Ken also helped and said what he had noticed in their visit to Primary Village, something that surprised most of them, specially Davis.

Soon the room got silent again. Everyone there was absorbing the information that had been spoken. Kari, TK and Ken also apologized for keeping these secrets and even though some had been somewhat upset everyone understood why they did it.

"So they are searching our Crests, Tai and Davis are the targets and all that is connected to the digimon who was in the Dark Ocean," Sora summarized in a small voice after a while.

"It's basically it," Kari agreed with a somewhat shaky voice while her eyes went from Davis, who was with a strange thoughtful expression, to her brother, who looked at her with sympathy, understanding that while he was worried about her, she was also worried about him.

"You really have no idea who that voice is?" Matt asked a little uneasy.

"No, sorry," Kari shook her head quietly.

"No, no problem," Matt said shaking his head back; no one blamed her for not knowing this.

"Tuesday... Tuesday..." Izzy muttered vaguely looking at his computer.

"Huh? What are you talking about Izzy?" Mimi asked the red-haired boy from her point in his bed between Sora and Ken.

"Tuesday... The day that the problem appeared on my computer..." Izzy replied still with a blank stare.

At the same time TK's and Tai's eyes widened and they leaned toward Izzy. "You mean...?" Tai asked vaguely.

"Probably," was the reply from the teenager in front of the computer. "If it wasn't then it would be quite a coincidence..."

TK frowned. "But why?"

Izzy's eyes suddenly widened and he began to type something on his laptop quickly. "Of course! It can only be so!"

"Wait, what are you three talking about?" Joe asked confused looking at the three boys that had been talking.

"Earlier today, before you all arrived," Tai started. "Izzy was telling us that on Tuesday his laptop started having a problem."

"There was someone wanting to access it, but for some reason couldn't, and when I tried to find out who was doing it, it was me who was blocked," Izzy completed without taking his eyes from what he was doing. "As if a kind of barrier had been put on my laptop preventing any internal contact with the outside."

"And what does this have to do with what we were talking about?" Yolei asked.

Izzy paused for a moment and turned to her. "It was in the same day. The day that Kari had the nightmare was the same day that this started happening with my laptop."

"Oh," was all that Yolei managed to speak while her mouth formed an 'o'.

"So you think these two facts have a connection," Matt noted, only then understanding where they were getting at.

TK nodded with a small frown. He should have thought about it when Izzy told them earlier about his problem. "It would be quite a coincidence if both had nothing to do with each other." He said finally.

"But why would this digimon do that?" Cody asked almost the same question TK had asked before.

Tai opened his mouth before closing it and looked at Izzy that had returned to doing something on his laptop. "Yeah, that part I didn't get too..."

The room got silent again besides the sound of computer keys being pressed. A message soon appeared on the laptop screen at the same a _'beep'_ sounded, causing Izzy to grunt frustrated. "Damn, I'm still not making any progress." He whispered to himself. Only then he seemed to realize that everyone's eyes were on him. "Uh... What?"

"Why would the digimon that is doing all this put a 'barrier' on your laptop?" Mimi repeated rolling her eyes.

"Ah, that's simple," He smiled slightly. "I hadn't thought about it before, but rather than the person who is wanting to get in my laptop being an invader, that person may just be wanting to communicate with us. Creating a barrier is the perfect way to prevent such contact between us."

"But who would want to speak-?" Tai started talking before he realized where Izzy was getting at and stopped.

Izzy nodded. "I think it may be Gennai."

"And can't you break this barrier?" Cody said.

"That's what I've been trying to do for some time, but every time I activate the program it starts showing the same message of problem and cancels the action," Izzy frowned looking at his laptop.

"So Gennai has been trying to tell us something important that this digimon don't want us to know," Joe said with a sigh. Things weren't looking very promising for them.

"Oh, come on people! Cheer up! I'm sure we'll solve this problem quickly and then we'll kick the ass of the digimon that is causing all this!" Davis exclaimed suddenly with his fists up. "I'm sure Izzy will find a solution for that barrier soon, right Izzy?"

The red-haired boy blinked surprised at Davis' sudden outburst. "Uh... Yea..."

"See," Davis continued with a smile. "It'll be all right!"

TK rolled his eyes at the animation of his friend, but couldn't help but smile at the same time. They could count on Davis to cheer them up when necessary. Besides, the young gogglehead was right, they had to keep believing that everything would be okay in the end; they shouldn't stop hoping.

Tai laughed slightly while small smiles began to appear on the faces of the others, with some even rolling their eyes. "Well said Davis."

"Oh... Ah, hehe, thank you," Davis said while he rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.

"Yeah!" DemiVeemon exclaimed excited jumping on Davis' lap. He jumped into the part of the bed between Ken and Davis, making Minomon begin to jump too. Now _that_ looked more like the Digidestineds. They shouldn't let that shake them so easily. They were going to keep fighting and weren't going to let an evil digimon win.

"Okay, now stop a bit DemiVeemon," Davis said while trying to grab his partner and make him stop jumping.

"No," replied the blue Digimon playfully jumping away from Davis' hands and inadvertently ending up on the computer desk. When a loud _'beep'_ followed his landing on the table all the noise on the room ceased. DemiVeemon slowly looked down and saw to his horror that he had landed on top of the keyboard of Izzy's laptop.

The red-haired teenage slowly turned to the digimon with a frozen smile on his face. "DemiVeemon... What did you just do?"

"I'm sorry!" The small digimon shouted before jumping back into the bed and hiding behind Davis.

Izzy glared in his direction for some seconds before sighing and start typing in his laptop to see what the mischievous digimon had done in it. He typed a few keys before he froze.

"Uh... Izzy?" Mimi asked poking said boy's arm.

The teen blinked rapidly and turned his gaze briefly to Mimi before his eyes fixed on DemiVeemon. "How did you do that?"

"Uh..." was all that the poor digimon managed to utter when he saw the puzzled look on Izzy.

"You..." The Digidestined began before stopping and, to everyone's surprise, start laughing. "Oh, I don't believe it. This was so simple, how couldn't have I thought of that before?"

"Izzy, can you tell us what happened?" Matt asked looking from his friend to the blue digimon that looked confused.

"Somehow, DemiVeemon managed solve the problem that the program I was using had," Izzy said with a big smile. "He managed to break the barrier and now I just need to find the source that was trying to access my computer."

Immediately everyone in the room began to celebrate, with DemiVeemon still confused with what he had done.

"So what are you waiting for Izzy?" Tai said excitedly. "We'll soon see what Gennai was trying to tell us!" He started to get out of the bed only to stop halfway and suddenly sit back while putting a hand on his forehead. "Suddenly I'm not feeling very well anymore."

Sora frowned. "Aren't you better from your cold?"

"I am!" Tai replied looking at Sora with his hand still on his forehead and a small grimace.

Sora rolled her eyes and pulled the brunette boy's hand from his forehead replacing it by hers so she could feel his temperature. She soon frowned. "Well, it seems that you were wrong. Your fever is back and it seems high."

"Let's take your exact temperature," Joe said getting up from the floor. "If you're really with a high fever you better take a pill and once you get home go to bed to rest." He then turned to the resident of that house. "Izzy, where do you keep a thermometer?"

Izzy's expression went thoughtful for a moment before he answered by pointing the mobile next to Joe. "If I'm not mistaken I have one in the top drawer."

"Honestly Tai," said Matt in a mocking tone while shaking his head. "Only you get sick in such a situation."

Kari frowned while she looked at her brother. "You were hiding this fever from me just to come to the meeting?"

"No!" Tai's eyes widened as he looked at Kari. "I wouldn't hide it from you." Then his gaze turned to Matt. "And you, shut up." The blonde Digidestined just laughed at his reaction.

Izzy shook his head as the scene continued. He soon turned to his computer and continued typing something in it until another sound came from it. "Yes!"

"You got it, Izzy?" Yolei asked leaning toward the computer.

The red-haired boy turned to answer her with a smile on his face but before he could say anything, an image opened on the screen of his laptop and in it was the figure they were expecting to see.

"Hello Chosen Children. It's good to finally be able to talk with you," Gennai nodded toward them with a tired little smile on his face.

"Gennai," Mimi said with a sigh of relief. So he was really trying to talk to them this time. Her expression then became more serious. If this was true then he really had to say something important to them since a few days ago.

"I guess you all must be full of questions and I have some answers," Gennai continued saying slowly while he looked at all the Digidestineds in the room. When his eyes paused on Tai, his eyes narrowed.

The brunette boy was looking at Joe, who was scolding him slightly for being careless and letting his condition worsen, with his eyes half open while leaning against both the wall and Sora, who looked between Joe and Tai with concern written on her face.

"Tai," Gennai said after watching them for a few seconds. "Are your fingers green by any chance?"

The Digidestined of Courage looked at him through half-closed eyes. "Green? Of course not. Why would they-"

His speech was interrupted by Sora who took one of his hands in hers and looked at it intently. "The tips of your fingers are green," Sora said looking at Tai with a reprehensible expression. "Why haven't you noticed this before?"

His sleepy eyes widened a little. "What? But they weren't like this..." He said in a sluggish tone. "And how did they get green...?"

"Tai, you aren't planning on going to sleep now, are you?" Kari asked confused as she started rising from her place on the floor. She hadn't gone to her brother until now because she thought with Joe and Sora there he was fine, but now it was too much to her.

Gennai sighed. "I was hoping the situation wouldn't be that..."

Kari stopped in the middle of her action. "What?"

"Some days ago some mysterious Digimon in the Digital World were seen looking for a plant whose spines can poison someone by just scratching their skin," Gennai began explaining looking at Tai apprehensively. "It is a extremely dangerous plant with thorns so thin it is difficult to identify when you have been hit by it."

"And what does this plant have to do with us?" TK asked feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

"The symptoms are not noticed immediately," Gennai continued. "Usually they start out as a normal cold until it starts getting better before getting worse again until finally..." He paused before continuing. "And one of the first symptoms of this phase is green spots that begin to spread throughout the body, usually starting with the fingers."

"No..." Sora's eyes widened as her grip tightened on Tai. Everyone turned to look at the boy in question, who had his eyes closed and his head resting on Sora's shoulder, mumbling nonsensical things. Joe was paralyzed in front of them, his eyes moving from Tai's fingers, which he now could see that were indeed a bit green, to the thermometer in his hand, which marked 40°C (104°F).

"When...?" Kari whispered staring at her brother. "When was he hit by the thorn? He was only in the Digital World on Wednesday with all of us. How wouldn't anyone notice if..."

"The thorns are very thin, like I said," Gennai repeated sadly. "It's very difficult to see that you got hit by one of them. At the most you feel a little uncomfortable."

"As with a mosquito bite?" Matt said suddenly a little paler.

Gennai looked at him with a thoughtful expression. "I think so."

"Why?" Mimi asked confusedly the blonde teen.

"I remember Tai saying he was chafed with the mosquitoes that were biting him," Matt answered her. "At the time I didn't think much about it, but thinking back it was obvious that something was strange. There's no mosquitoes in the Digital World, is there? At least not like the ones we know..."

Kari's eyes widened and she felt her legs start to give away beneath her, but before she could fall to the ground, TK appeared beside her and held her arm firmly but also gently, supporting her while her legs couldn't. She couldn't believe it. After all that trouble and cautiousness she had had she still wasn't able to prevent it from happening? Her brother had been affected and she hadn't noticed anything! She should have been able to do something, she was the only one who knew that something could happen and she let it go unnoticed by her!

"Where do we find the antidote?" TK asked suddenly surprising her.

Kari looked at him and saw him looking at her briefly before directing his gaze to Gennai. His eyes shone with determination, showing Kari the strength she needed to remember to have. There was still something they could do. Squeezing the hand with which he was holding her, Kari started feeling a bigger firmness in her legs. He was right. Now it wasn't the time to be blaming herself. She knew that the others were also concerned about her brother and would do anything to help. She was sure that they together would be able to find an antidote and find out who was that digimon who was messing with them.

With a renewed determination shining now also in her eyes, Kari turned to Gennai and began to watch as he explained where they would find what they were looking for.

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><p>So... Here it is! This was Chapter 7! I hope you didn't find it bad. It was the most difficult one to write till now. I tried adding a little more of the Digimons, although most of them basically did nothing. But you have to admit that this is a bit difficult. There are so many Digidestined and Digimon - though not all were here – that it gets difficult to make them all do something. And I hope you weren't bothered by the sudden changes of relaxation and tension in the scenes.<p>

And about the part with Tai... Well, I thought about many ways for it to appear but this one sounded interesting so I ended up putting it that way. And I'm sorry if you were expecting something more "Oh, my gosh!" Or something like that. Believe me, it being this way will help the rest of the plot. And I hope I have caught at least some of you off guard XD I hope that not everyone was expecting it to happen like that o.o

Now, I know that this chapter also didn't have action, but don't worry, more things will start to happen from the next chapter :D (that is, if everything goes as planned).

Wow, I said a lot of things huh? Well, that's it. So till the next chapter! Don't forget to, please, review! See you all later! Bye!


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